


Stole the Show

by Dokt0rGunn



Series: Hide Your Fires [2]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Anal Sex, Autoerotic Asphyxiation, Blow Jobs, Bombs, Computer Implemented Restraints, Dark Rhys, Drug Use, Exhibitionism, Eye Trauma, Light Bondage, M/M, Mirror Sex, Oral Sex, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Porn With Plot, Psychological Torture, Restraints, Smut, Spanking, Terrorism, Torture, rhack - Freeform, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2018-11-04 09:59:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10988586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dokt0rGunn/pseuds/Dokt0rGunn
Summary: “Little by little, the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him.”- Jennifer DonnellyAct Three - How to be a hero?





	1. Act Three // Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Song: Kings Never Die (By, Eminem ft. Gwen Stefani)

>   **LB SANCTUARY AUDIOLOG #298**

**E:** _"Long ago Eridians thrived in this Universe. They achieved truly amazing feats, created beautiful art, and reached for the pinnacle of scientific discovery. But like all groups, even remarkable ones, there were detractors._  

_Some Eridians formed a cult that believed the Universe wanted to die, and that by destroying the Universe they would be exalted above all others in the afterlife._

_There was a great war and initially those who were rational and stable thought it would be no great feat to defeat what they viewed as a few lunatics. But belief can be a truly dangerous thing, it can infect and spread, especially when there is fear in the air._

_And so as things became undone, and Eridians tore Eridians to pieces, a final desperate plan was enacted."_

**M:** "The vaults."

 **E:** _"Yes, as you humans call them, the vaults. Created to lock away our greatest and also most terrifying creations, to lock away our knowledge, and to lock away the great army of those who would destroy all life."_

 **F:** "So those flashes people see in vaults?"

 **E:** _"Knowledge - the opinions, thoughts, feelings, foresight, and wisdom of my people, both my side and theirs, twisted so that your minds could make sense of it."_

 **V:** "So Rhys, Jack, they just got the destruction Eridians side of things? Does that mean what they did wasn't their fault?"

 **E:** _"No, the vaults seek to give you whatever is most compatible with your mind in an effort to lose the least amount of information possible during the transfer."_

 **V:** "But it's not perfect it could have changed them?"

 **E:** _"Do you truly think you would have done the same if you were given the same information?"_

 **V:** "No."

 **E:** _"Then don't ask silly questions, a person's actions are their own, no one was brainwashed."_

 **V:** "I only hoped," a long sigh, "I guess that is silly at this point, please continue."

 **E:** _"When your species opened the first vault, I was released, the last of the Eridians who have not fallen to madness. The last true Eridian. However with each subsequent vault others have been released, others who still wish to destroy everything._

_And now one of those who was released has finally succeeded in opening the vault that contained the armada, and though they are far away now, they are coming for you, and they are coming for their weapons._

_I was away because I was trying to find the armada's vault first, to seal it away better, or at least hide it. I failed, and then as I was returning I was alerted to the activation of one of the destroyers great weapons. So I came here straight away. I can see I have missed much._

_I know you are all sore, angry, and not without reason. Perhaps I should have been more forthcoming with Lillith all those years ago when I told her to find more vault hunters, but she seemed...unstable, and I thought we had more time._

_This Rhys who activated the weapon what was his goal? To do as Jack who came before him? To be a hero?"_

**V:** "I doubt Rhys would ever say hero, he said he was fixing things," bitter, sad.

 **E:** _"Do you think he would want everything destroyed?"_

 **V:** "No?"

 **E:** _"You seem uncertain."_

 **V:** "He's hard to predict these days."

 **E:** _"But you knew him best, correct?"_

 **V:** "I guess?" A pause, "No, I don't think he would want to destroy everything, neither of them want to destroy everything if for no other reason, then if everyone died who would they lord over?"

 **E:** _"I see - then they might be our only chance at success."_

 **A:** "You're kidding right?" A long pause, "you're not kidding."

 **E:** _"We must find them, and we must convince Rhys to turn that weapon on the armada. Unless you have another suggestion?"_

 **A:** "No, but I hate this plan."

 **F:** "Even if he agrees, when this is over Rhys and Jack still pay for their crimes."

 **G:** "Agreed."

 **V:** "Only trouble is finding them before Dahl does."

* * *

 

 

 _“Every choice comes with a consequence._  
_Once you make a choice, you must accept responsibility._  
_You cannot escape the consequences of your choices,_  
whether you like them or not.”  
\- Roy T. Bennett

 

* * *

  **Act Three // Chapter One**

* * *

 

 

A heavyset man in the scraps of an Atlas uniform fell to the irradiated dirt howling with a knife stuck through the side of his face.

Just to his left stood two men, one in a hood, and the other in a wide brimmed hat. They were surrounded, but this was hardly a first, especially since they'd crash landed on Promethea.

In fact it was so commonplace that it had become a bit of a dance, casual, practiced, they worked well together. Unlike their enemies most of whom had obviously never truly learned to fight.

This was easy mode really, ex-Atlas employees, hungry, tired, and scared - fighting them certainly beat fighting the Dahl patrols that occasionally caught up.

The slimmer of the two flipped another knife out of his belt, while the slightly broader man in the wide brimmed hat grinned, swinging his axe in a soft circle.

They saved the guns for enemies with guns or desperate situations, and these idiots had nothing more than poorly wielded clubs and spears.

An enraged scream and the fight was on, the ex-Atlas employees charging as one and immediately showing their inexperience as they got in each other's way.

One, two, three, four slices with his knife, and four ex-employees dropped at Rhys' feet. The cyborg glanced to his left just in time to watch Jack bring his axe down on the last of his half of the enemies, blood spraying up as the blade connected with the woman's throat.

"Told you the axe was slow," Rhys commented as he bent down to grab the knife he'd left in the first man's face.

"Still more artful," Jack responded grinning, "I mean you just can't get the same arterial spray with a knife."

"I bet I could if I tried hard enough," Rhys kicked over the attacker he'd pulled his knife from when the man desperately attempted to crawl away, "hold still, I want to try this."

Jack snorted as he wiped the axe's blade off on the nearest dead person's clothing, "it doesn't count if you have to get them to hold still for you pumpkin."

With a short lived glare Rhys pressed the man to the ground with his cybernetic arm and then slid the blade through the side of the man's throat.

The spray of blood that coated Rhys' face while impressive did admittedly lack the raw jagged effect the axe tended to create.

"See, told ya so," Jack practically crowed.

Scowling the younger man wiped the blood from his face with one arm and sighed, "it's still good."

Chuckling Jack leaned down over the cyborg and nipped at his throat, "oh it's more than good cupcake, just not quite axe levels of epic."

"Why don't we head back and you can explain it to me?" Rhys suggested glancing over his shoulder with a lascivious smile.

Jack grinned like a shark in response and tugged the cyborg to his feet, "an entire month stabbing fuckers in a radioactive wasteland and you're still fucking insatiable when it comes to my cock, I'm starting to think you didn't just bring me back for my brains cupcake."

"What brains?" Rhys gave him a cocky little smirk that only grew as Jack's grip tightened on him enough to bruise.

"You're lucky you're useful to me Rhysie," Jack sneered, "or I'd have shut that stupid mouth of yours up a long time ago; you keep pissing me off, I might do it anyways."

Rhys just grinned, "promises, promises."

The sudden roar of an engine interrupted any further response from the man and both of them were quickly ducking into the nearby building the ex-Atlas employees had obviously been squatting in.

Jack pulled the rifle he'd been carrying on his back into place and Rhys followed suit aiming his SMG at the door.

As the ship settled to the ground Rhys could make out the wing tip of a Dahl infantry carrier, not good. However when the sound of soldiers hitting the ground didn't follow, Rhys exchanged a confused look with Jack.

The sound of footsteps in the dirt outside shuffled towards them, whoever it was walked slowly and sounded like they had a walking stick, or maybe a cane?

And then finally a voice, "there's only two of us out here you know."

Rhys knew that voice, even though Jack obviously hadn't placed it. Peeking from behind the door he couldn't help but gasp, standing in front of the Dahl carrier Vaughn was closely followed by a creature he'd never seen before. But if pressed to make a guess, he'd say it was Eridian.

Jack however seemed to know exactly what it was, "don't go near that thing cupcake, that asshole was helping Zarpedon."

Rhys scoffed, "as though I'd trust anything helping Vaughn anyways." 

Jack smirked at that comment, "true, he did betray you didn't he." 

Vaughn visibly clenched his jaw and the Eridian patted him lightly on the shoulder before speaking in a voice that had an ancient otherworldly quality, "we are here because we require your aid."

Jack rolled his eyes, "oh sure, likely story, you say you need our help, we come out, you shoot us dead."

"We have proof."

 

* * *

 

 

Jack dropped chucked the datapad into the campfire as he finished reading, a scowl stamped on his face, "so if these destroyer dipshits are coming why not get my help when I had the Warrior? Why try and stop me?"

"Because the Warrior was a trap, you would not have controlled it long Jack, it would have controlled you, and then you would have helped it tear the Universe asunder," the Eridian assured him.

"And no one tried telling me this because?" Not that he believed this crock of shit, he was Handsome Jack dammit all, he could have controlled the Warrior easily, he saw it in the vault after all, and it would have been beautiful. 

"Would you have listened? I think not, in all foreseeable futures you unleashed the Warrior, nothing short of death would have stopped you, and so that was my goal. It was not as you humans say, personal."  

A likely story, Jack rolled his eyes, stupid Eridian was probably just jealous that he had better control of a creature built by them.

"If we go with you to help, what's to stop all of you from killing us the moment we take out these _destroyer Eridians_?" Rhys asked yellow cybernetic eye flashing across the fire as he focused on Muscles.

"Nothing," Vaughn acknowledged, "but you will have saved the Universe from extinction."

Jack rolled his eyes, yeah, that was not happening, "nah, I think we'll pass, the hell is the point of saving the Universe if I die?" 

"Rhys?" Vaughn asked. 

"It's not me you need to convince," Rhys pointed out while leaning back on the rock he was using for a seat, "and even if it were, I agree with Jack."

Vaughn glowered, "you once risked your life to save one little robot, the hell happened?"

"First of all it wasn't for one robot, it was for one robot and a vault," Rhys sounded almost bored but his eyes had a deadly gleam behind them that Jack recognized easily as anger, "secondly all my friends refused to trust me. and then they betrayed me."

"What do you want?" Vaughn demanded a full blown glower was shadowing his face now.

"Whatever Jack wants," Rhys responded with tilt of his head.

A thrill ran through Jack at that, _good boy Rhysie_ , he leaned forward and grinned, "and I want some assurances, as well as contact with Atlas as soon as we get off planet."

Vaughn scowled, "you know the vault hunters will never agree to that."

The older man shrugged, "then I guess the Universe burns until Rhys and I find a way off this rock huh?"

Vaughn rolled his eyes, "and if the destroyers have found your weapon by then and blown it apart?"

"It aint that easy to find kiddo," Jack smirked, "besides I'll take a small chance of survival over none thanks."

"I thought you were supposed to be a hero?" Vaughn finally snapped spitefully.

Cute, real cute, the dumb tripod thought he could rile him into this bullshit, "listen half pint, I am a hero, I'm willing to spend my time and Rhysie's here saving the goddamned Universe. We're willing to stick our necks out and all we want is a few small assurances that we won't get murdered the moment we finish saving you ungrateful bastards. If you think about it who's really the bad guy here? Me? Or the dumb ass vault hunters standing in my way as usual?"

Vaughn scowled, "I'll return here, in one week, I will talk to the vault hunters, but I can almost guarantee what their answer will be."

Jack grinned, "guess you better hope you're wrong huh?"

 

* * *

 

 

It was much later that night in the comfort of their current choice of shelter as Jack pressed Rhys into the bed with rapidly more unsteady grunts that it really hit him what his former friend had been talking about.

The end of life in the entire universe? Rhys had personally wiped out the life of every person who had formerly occupied the very planet he was getting fucked into in that moment, and yet the Universe was still beyond him. It was a concept that defied imagination.

“Come on cupcake don’t make me do all the work,” an irritated voice snapped at him from behind followed by a smack across his ass.

This was definitely not the time to be bringing the subject up, nor was Rhys particularly fond of the fact that his current thought process was dampening his own pleasure. So wiping the idea from his mind with a practiced ease that came from ignoring so many other unpleasant things, the cyborg pushed the other man away with one hand and smirked, “fine, then sit down and let me work.”

Jack immediately grinned wickedly, the irritation dropping from his face as he sat back and allowed the younger man to turn and climb into his lap. “Fuck, just like that pumpkin,” the older man groaned, his hand wrapping around the younger man’s dick to help him along, “you were just made for riding a cock.”

Rhys moaned in response and briefly contemplating attempting to bite the older man’s collarbone before his brain caught up with what a bad idea that would be given how fast he was bouncing up and down.

Jack dragged his free hand down Rhys’ back, blunt nails pressed hard enough to leave a pleasant scraping pain in their wake. The closer he got the sloppier his movements became, but the younger man was too far gone to continue attempting precision. As the moment of ecstasy hit, and the universe burst behind his eyelids shooting through his entire body, he finally found it in himself to entirely let go of his worries.

Screw Vaughn and the others, screw the stupid universe, this planet couldn’t hold them for long, and once they were free everyone was going to pay, Vaughn, Fiona, the vault hunters, and any Eridian who thought they could come and take the Universe out from under them; and then one day it would all be his. The Universe, the lives, even Jack. Rhys was going to have everything he ever wanted.

Nothing quite like an orgasm to make you feel like you’re king.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my fucking fuck I posted more. Wooooo! Sorry for the week delay everyone! I had to go to the hospital. I'm fine now though, it was just unpleasant. 
> 
> Five chapters is more of a guess than a for sure. I have an outline for the story but it might take more time to get through than I think it will. I already didn't get as far into the plot during this chapter as I initially intended. 
> 
> Shoot me a comment if you've got the time!


	2. Act Three // Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Song: Want (By, Recoil)

_Everything in the world is about sex except sex._  
_Sex is about power._  
\- Oscar Wilde

* * *

**Act Three // Chapter Two**

* * *

  
  
Rhys had dozed off two hours prior but Jack found sleep simply wouldn't take him. He found himself idly tracing lines across the younger man's back as he slept curled into Jack's side. It was the sort of doting nonsense he'd never allow himself if Rhys had been conscious to observe it, but asleep like this it was okay.  
  
The slim man was as close as Jack got to affection these days, and he usually kept the older man's attention thereby preventing his mind from drifting to unpleasantness. He would never trust the cyborg of course, he'd never trust anyone again after Angel; and it would never be love, Jack had none left to give. But he genuinely liked the man...he was fond of Rhys.  
  
Jack was just about to drift into sleep when the sound of something clattering against the outside of the building alerted him. His hand wrapped around his gun even as he shook Rhys roughly awake. Bleary eyed and confused as he was Rhys was also immediately grabbing a weapon and silently easing to a seated position.  
  
It wasn't the first time they'd been attacked in the night, and by this point they had a system. Rhys slipped to his feet and moved to the door while Jack held position at the window.  
  
An explosion sounded from outside as someone set off one of the traps Jack had carefully set only days prior, he'd told Rhys they weren't a waste of time.  
  
A loud swear came from outside followed by a small beep, and then a grenade flew through the window.  
  
Jack cursed, where had anyone gotten grenades on this empty wasteland of a planet? Even he had been stuck with makeshift pipe bombs. It wasn't until it went off a moment later that Jack realized it was an EMP grenade.  
  
This obviously wasn't ex employees, it was someone considerably better equipped. Someone who knew exactly how to disable them.  
  
Unfortunately the CEO didn't have long to consider which of their many enemies it was, the damage was done. Rhys dropped to his knees with a pained noise, and Jack fell to the floor as the sub-dermal cybernetics and nanites Rhys used to bring Jack back to life short circuited.  
  
Neither of them would die without their cybernetics, but a good portion of Jack's body had needed repairs, and Rhys' arm was linked into supports along his spine; not to mention the cybernetics attached to the man's brain. Jack was frankly surprised the cyborg was still conscious never mind managing to stay mostly upright. From where he lay he could see Rhys slowly struggling to move and failing horribly.  
  
The sound of footsteps entered the room and Jack groaned as he watched hat girl approach. Of course.  
  
"We tried to do this nicely," she said, the smug bitch, "I said it would never work, but Vaughn really hoped I was wrong. Silly given you're both megalomaniac psychopaths."  
  
Fiona booted Rhys in the side and the man groaned as he collapsed to the floor beside Jack.  
  
"If the whole damn universe weren't at stake I would happily kill you both right here," she snarled, "but lucky for you two idiots we need you, for now."  
  
"What happened to trials Fiona," Rhys' voice was full of venom even if the man was obviously in pain.  
  
"You killed my sister," the woman's voice was cold and she kicked him in the side a second time, "load em' up."  
  
What Jack recognized as Maliwan soldiers and Crimson Raiders entered the room, the CEO managed a low grumble as he was hauled from the building. He was going to rip these assholes to pieces, as soon as he could move again.

 

* * *

  
  
Rhys groaned as his cybernetics finally started running properly again, the constant headache and sharp pains through his back had been unpleasant to say the least. Not to mention the bruise forming on his side where Fiona had kicked him twice.  
  
Maliwan, of course it was Maliwan. Rhys vaguely recalled that the company had been buying property on Promethea just before they'd unearthed the second piece of the weapon. He'd meant to look into it, but Dahl had seemed so much more important at the time.  
  
They'd placed him in his own cell and he wasn't sure where they'd taken Jack.  
  
Rhys silently cursed both his and Jack's foolhardy arrogance. They should have hidden better, cockily heading back through the Promethean wastes to the same base of operations they'd used for the last month was dumb. Easily traceable.  
  
Not that it would matter, did they really think they'd have better luck convincing Jack while locking him up? Idiots. The man wouldn't even tell Rhys where he'd sent the device.  
  
The room he was in was circular, small grey panels making up the walls and ceiling. Uniformed dullness with not even a table or chairs to break up the monotony.  
  
Rhys sighed and sat against one of the walls, briefly wondering where the door was. He tried scanning for the echonet, but as suspected, they'd either cut him off, or they were still on Promethea.  
  
He wondered how long it would be before talks would start, not long apparently as the wall to his right slid open moments later.  
  
Rhys grinned as Vaughn entered his cell closely followed by the Eridian, "one week he says," the cyborg snorted, "you've gotten better at lying."  
  
The small man rolled his eyes leaning slightly on a cane, "I wasn't lying, Fiona and Maliwan just didn't like your, sorry Jack's proposal."  
  
"Well that's too bad, I guess we'll all die together huh?" the taller man slipped to his feet as he spoke with a smug look on his face.  
  
The Eridian tilted her head, "you would truly put yourself above everyone else in the Universe?"  
  
Rhys snorted, "it doesn't matter what I would do," he stepped closer and noticed the faint hum of an energy barrier between himself and his interrogators, clever, "what matters is what Jack would do. He is the only person who knows where the device is, and I can't use it unless he tells me to."  
  
Vaughn sighed and shook his head, "there has to be a way around that, Maliwan has programmers, they could go into your code and fix it. And you must have some guess about where he'd have sent it!"  
  
Rhys sneered, "Maliwan programmers? You think I'm going to let Maliwan in my head? They can't hack past Jack, and if they try I'm the one who will have to deal with whatever traps he's set."  
  
"Listen Rhys...look, we don't agree on anything anymore, but the whole Universe is at stake," Vaughn pressed and Rhys momentarily wondered if anything could break the man's ability to hope.  
  
The cyborg smiled and leaned against the barrier, sparks running down his cybernetic limb from where they connected, "listen to this, even if you dug Jack's code out of my skull, and even if I somehow knew where Jack was hiding it, I wouldn't help _you_ , because _I hate you_."  
  
Vaughn didn't speak another word, just shook his head almost seeming disappointed, and then turned on one heel to leave.  
  
Rhys tripped forward and barely caught himself as the door slid closed and the barrier dropped. Someday he was going to kill Vaughn, very, very, slowly.

 

* * *

  
  
Jack was partway through attempting to pry one of the panels from the wall of his cell when the far wall opened to reveal hat girl flanked by Axton and Moxxi of all people.  
  
He grinned brilliantly, "oh well this is a surprise, gotta burn having to come to me for help huh Mox?"  
  
"Not as much as it must burn for you to be my prisoner," she said smiling back.  
  
"Well what do you idiots want? To try and convince me to change my mind?"  
  
"No, none of us are so naive," Moxxi leaned backwards slightly, "we're here to make a deal Jack."  
  
"If it's not the deal I asked for, the answer is no," he tapped casually on the wall absolutely unimpressed with their posturing.  
  
"We'll let you go, but keep Rhys," Fiona said bluntly, "it ensures you have to come back for him and ensures for us that you actually deal with the destroyers."  
  
Jack hummed softly as though considering, "how long have Rhysie and I been down on Promethea?"  
  
"A while," Axton grunted.  
  
"No no, I need exactly how long, because I would estimate that we're coming up on a month right?"  
  
Silence met his question and the vault hunters exchanged glances.  
  
Jack sighed making sure to imbue his voice with every ounce of condescension he felt for these morons, "it matters because if we hit a month, you'll all be fucked anyways."  
  
"What do you mean?" Fiona demanded.  
  
"I'm glad you asked hat girl, see thing is, if Rhys and I are MIA for a full month back up measures kick in gear to put in place a new CEO, and then he's going to have the device. He's also probably going to even less cooperative than me."  
  
Moxxi looked startled, "who did you find?"  
  
"Me obviously," Jack paused as though considering, "well that's not quite true, AI me."  
  
Fiona's eyes widened, "you absolute lunatic."  
  
"You put an AI in charge?" Moxxi's voice was disbelieving, "And not just any AI, but what is likely a fragmented and distorted copy of yourself in AI form; you idiot."  
  
Axton's eyes darted between the conversation's participants, "what's the difference?"  
  
"Enough that this moron knows if he doesn't get back to Atlas before it's activated he'll have fucked over all of us whether we stop the destroyers or not."  
  
Jack shrugged, "to be fair, I assumed if I'd been MIA for a whole month I'd be dead."  
  
"What will it do if it's activated?" Moxxi demanded.  
  
Jack shrugged, "his memories are up to date to just prior the Atlas station crashing on Promethea, so probably come for Rhys, at least if he figures out where you've hidden him, take over Rhys' body, use him to waste anyone who stands in his way, enforce a dictatorship by way of giant space laser. Or some glitch will occur and he'll kill everyone, hard to say really."  
  
Moxxi made a disgusted noise and stepped out of the cell, "we'll be back."  
  
"Don't take too long," Jack laughed as the door slid closed behind them.

* * *

  
  
It was hours later that Rhys found himself dragged from his cell by Crimson Raiders, cuffed, and roughly hauled down a hallway with similarly boring grey panels.  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
Silence greeted his question.  
  
"Not very talkative, or can't talk?" Rhys rambled, "I did always wonder what sort of brain dead morons would follow Lillith and now Fiona of all people."  
  
A tick in one of his guards jaw indicated this silence was an order, not a choice.  
  
"Have any of you even tried to save Lillith yet? I could arrange a meeting once I'm off this Maliwan rust bucket you know - I'm sure she'd be thrilled to see you," Rhys grinned and got an aggressive shove for his comments.  
  
He was about to continue but as they rounded a corner a familiar voice interrupted him, "don't antagonize them cupcake, they're letting us go."  
  
Rhys' grin grew and he threw a look over his shoulder, "are they now, how kind."  
  
Jack snorted he was standing next to the entrance of a small short range vessel while similarly cuffed, a few feet away stood Moxxi herself. The woman's voice was like ice, "kind isn't the word I'd use, I just don't want to play chicken with an insane man while the whole universe at risk. But don't worry sugar, I have plans for both of you, soon as this is done."  
  
Rhys' guards shoved him forward where he was only kept from face planting into the boarding ramp by Jack's quick reflexes. As it was the other man's handcuffs still cut into his arm.  
  
"You gonna uncuff us?" Jack demanded.  
  
"You'll find the key to the cuffs on the shuttle, I have no intention of being near you when your hands are free Jack," Moxxi's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Well jeez balloon tits, you're not as dumb as you look," Jack snickered and elbowed Rhys, "come on Pumpkin, we got places to be and big bad aliens to rip to shreds. Time to be heroes."  
  
Moxxi scoffed but said nothing about Jack's words, turning to Rhys instead, "Fiona wanted me to give you a message."  
  
Rhys rolled his eyes before responding, voice reluctant, "go on."  
  
"She said every night you should think about what you did to Sasha, very hard, and understand that what she's going to do to you will be ten times worse," the threat was delivered briskly and with a slight smirk.  
  
The cyborg allowed himself a thin smile, "tell her not to worry about it, I think about that day _all_ the time, fond memories and all you know."  
  
There was no response to his jab, the bordering ramp simply closed and the smirk on Moxxi's face didn't even drop for a moment. What a bitch.  
  
"Come on cupcake," Jack's voice called from the hallway to the cockpit, "help me find this key."  
  
Rhys turned away from the closing ramp and frowned, they clearly had a plan or they would never have let them go, and this time he had no intention of underestimating them. "Coming."  
  
Jack's grinning face stuck out from behind the pilot's seat where he was rifling through a drawer, "not yet pumpkin, but you will be, soon as I get these damn cuffs off."  
  
The shuttle shook as the larger Maliwan transport dropped them into space and Rhys watched through the viewport as they flew away.  
  
"Ah ha," the proud declaration was accented by Jack holding up a small shiny object, "oh and cupcake, probably a good time to contact Atlas and get them here ASAP."  
  
Rhys pulled up the echonet successfully for the first time in nearly a month and smiled, Rothstein responded immediately seemingly pleased to discover his employer was alive. Luckily he'd been on one of their warships when the station went down.  
  
"They're sending an escort to pick us up," Rhys commented, the echonet connection clearing just in time to find himself face to face with an excited looking Jack.  
  
"At least an hour out?"  
  
"Probably."  
  
"Good," Jack ran one hand along the side of Rhys' throat and the younger man felt his heartbeat pick up. The older man leaned forward voice at a whisper, "I think our _friends_  have left some listening devices behind, how about we give them something fun to listen to?"  
  
Rhys grinned, a combination of embarrassment and arousal spiking through him at the idea, "well then, how do you want to play this?"  
  
Jack hummed and shoved the younger man back into the Captain's seat while tugging at the cuffs wrapped around Rhys' wrists, "first let's get this out of the way."  
  
The click of a silver key and Rhys was surging forward with a softly murmured, "Jack." He littered the older man's neck with nips alternating with full blown bites until he was pulled backwards, hands re-cuffed behind his back. Rhys frowned slightly at the interruption and leaned forward, following the smug mismatched eyes of his partner's face.  
  
Jack tsked softly and ran a single finger along Rhys' collar bone with a smile that the cyborg was sure he should be terrified of but instead found thrilling. Even after months of being Jack's chosen sex partner the older man still routinely found ways to surprise him, and that look meant something new.  
  
The older man pressed a button on the ships dashboard causing the lights to dim and the cockpit window to flip into night mode. It was a mode Rhys very quickly realized essentially turned the glass into a large mirror.  
  
Jack smirked as Rhys felt and saw a blush rise across his own pale cheeks. Jack leaned down, one hand running along the younger man's spine, before roughly flipping him over to lay on his stomach across the seat, "you like it don't you, the idea of watching me use you like the fucktoy you are?"  
  
Rhys nodded violently as the older man unclasped the cyborgs belt letting his pants drop to the floor.  
  
He watched as Jack leaned forward and bit down sharply on the tattoo at his neck. The sharp pain of canines digging into his skin let loose a moan from Rhys' mouth and he was immediately distracted by how his own face looked in the glass. They'd barely started and he already looked lewd even to himself, and that really just turned him on more.  
  
"I appreciate the moan Pumpkin," the Jack in the mirror image leaned back with a wicked smile that showed his teeth, one hand raising over the younger man's bare ass. He knew what was coming, and try as he might to relax, he still tensed up, "you need to use your words," Jack's hand came down and a pleasant sting followed his motion, "so I'll ask you again, you like watching me use you like a fucktoy, don't you?"  
  
Rhys squirmed and momentarily considered not responding if only to get another smack. But the excited look in Jack's face had him eager to please with a long moaned "yes Jack," tumbling from his mouth at the same time he remembered that the vault hunters might very well be listening.  
  
A shiver spread through him and Jack chuckled, "good."  
  
Rhys watched with fascination as Jack ran his hand over the slightly reddened skin of his ass cheek.  
  
"You know cupcake, I have some truly brilliant plans for when we get back to Atlas, but until then," Jack's free hand collided with Rhys' other ass cheek three times with careful precision. The older man was biting his lip ever so slightly in the same way he did when working at a complex engineering problem, utterly focused on the task at hand. The cyborg watched himself in the mirrored glass jolting in time with the strikes.  
  
Rhys let out a soft moan and Jack kneaded softly at the lightly abused flesh, the breathy "Jack" that left his mouth only egged the man on, hand coming down on the other side as he grabbed onto the handcuffs to pull Rhys up slightly. His ass bounced with the strike and Jack's pleased expression sent a furl of pride snaking up into his chest.  
  
The older man seemingly having become impatient finally unlocked Rhys' handcuffs and reached into his pocket undoubtedly grabbing the last of the packets of lube they'd managed to scrounge up while on Promethea, "come on pumpkin, up ya get, you're going to take a ride."  
  
Rhys grinned, "you just want me to ride your dick while you sit in the Captain's chair."  
  
"It did occur to me," Jack looked smug as he dropped his own pants, his already hard cock springing free of it's confines, "now lean over the railing for me like a good fucktoy."  
  
Oh Rhys would show him a _good fucktoy_ alright, but as with all good things, this required some patience. Rhys watched as the man cracked open the packet and coated his fingers. Jack shot him a pleased look in the glass at the same time one and then quickly two fingers drove into him. It wasn't a difficult process given Jack had been fucking his brains out less than 24 hours prior down on the surface.  
  
As Jack finished his cursory preparation of Rhys he turned his attention to slathering the remaining lubricant onto himself, "well cupcake."  
  
Rhys smiled and turned the seat Jack was in to the side so he could continue watching himself in the glass before carefully settling himself over the other man. Jack's hands came up, one to angle himself in and the other squeezing one of Rhys' still tingling ass cheeks.  
  
The cyborg plunged down and saw his face open up with pleasure in the glass as he settled into place, he'd never seen that look on his own face and it was hard to tear his eyes away, he would have started masturbating in mirrors years ago if he'd known how much this would turn him on. Rhys braced his hands on Jack's shoulders as he slowly rose up and then sunk back down.  
  
He worked himself up to a solid pace in a matter of moments and the sound in the room became a glorious symphony of Rhys' moans intermingled with Jack's.  
  
Jack seemed to be close, his eyes dancing back and forth between the glass and Rhys' face. The younger man gave him a smug look and then slid his flesh hand up to grip around Jack's throat just hard enough to make it difficult but not quite impossible to breathe. At first the older man seemed like he might throw Rhys off, but something else settled in Jack's gaze and he sunk into it with a low keening noise.  
  
Excitement drove everything home for Rhys perfectly, his hand tightening ever so slightly as his pace picked up and his eyes were drawn to the perfect picture in the cockpit window.  
  
He could tell Jack was nearly there too, his hips bucking even as his eyes grew hazy from oxygen deprivation. Rhys used his echo eye to track the other man's oxygen levels and choose the optimal moment to let go. Jack gasped in air and immediately came, body shuddering beneath the younger man. The blissed out expression and shuddering grind enough to push Rhys into his own glorious finale.  
  
As the cyborg came down from his high he couldn't help but smile and press his forehead to the other man's. Jack looked spent, a lazy pleased and slightly curious expression running across his face as he ran one hand over his own throat.  
  
They were free, of Promethea and the vault hunters, at least for now. They would have Atlas back, the weapon back, and everything was finally coming together. A nagging doubt asked him when it would all come crashing down around his ears again, but Rhys shoved the hateful uncertainty away and relished the moment.  
  
Everything would come together, and if it didn't want to, he and Jack would make it happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so first of all, sorry about the wait! For some reason inspiration wandered off and I've had a bitch writing this last week and a half-ish. 
> 
> But good news, extra long chapter w. bonus smut! - Sorry if any of the editing is off, I am super tired, and a big thank you to [visnomer](https://visnomer.tumblr.com/) [x](http://archiveofourown.org/users/regsregis/pseuds/regsregis) for the excellent suggestions for this chapter's sex scene and quite possibly a future one as well.
> 
> I made a moodboard for this chapter and posted it [here](https://dokt0rgunn.tumblr.com/post/161541138173/slightly-late-moodboard-for-act-three-chapter).
> 
> Please shoot me a comment if you've got the time!


	3. Act Three // Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Song: Sick Like Me (By, In This Moment)

_The psychopaths are always around._  
_In calm times we study them,_  
_but in times of upheaval,_  
_they rule over us._  
\- Ernst Krestschmet  


* * *

**Act Three // Chapter Three**

* * *

  
_  
**ATLAS BASE - 3RD MOON OF AQUATOR** _

  
  
Their return to Atlas was slightly less celebrated than Jack seemed to prefer.  
  
There were of course a select few who viewed this return as some sort of sign. Those strange followers who'd hero worshipped them before had now stepped over the line into full blown cult behaviour. But that didn't matter, that was fine; really they behaved as Jack thought everyone should.  
  
And of course the new management heads were still the same simpering douchebags Rhys had come to expect. Hanging off the every word of their superiors, and acting as though they loved every moment of it. It was all an act of course, but it was an act that pleased Jack so it was all well and good.  
  
It was the regular staff, the grunts that held barely contained contempt in their every move. Jack hadn't missed the resentful glances of the majority of the workers who'd lost friends and family. Not that this attitude wasn't a problem in itself, Rhys certainly had his own concerns about it. But it's difficulty was magnified in that the CEO did poorly with anything directed towards him that wasn't worship or fear.  
  
Jack had wanted to kill every single one of them. It was only through some quick talking on Rhys' part that he convinced the man to ease back for the moment.  
  
They needed workers, and besides, Rhys had a plan. All they needed was for one to step out of line into outright attack, (something the younger man felt was an inevitability at this point) and then they would make an example of the idiots involved. But they couldn't make the first move, making the first move could incite revolt.  
  
It wasn't a long wait thankfully, they were in the planning stages of a new ship to hold the weapon when the engineers and programmers in the room tried to kill them. It was a sad attempt really, quite possibly one of the worst assassination attempts Rhys had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. And this was a list that included that time his father had jumped at him with nothing but a spear.  
  
The public execution was broadcast to every single Atlas base and ship. Simple, straight forward, gunshot to the skull, nothing dramatic. Just a clear cut picture that insubordination or rebellion would not be tolerated. It quelled the looks, at least for the time being, resentment and hate made into fear. But Rhys had his suspicions it wouldn't last. It was a thought he chose not to bring up with Jack who became much more cheerful following the executions. The man never trusted anyone anyways, so really, why be a downer?  
  
It was shortly after that when Jack began mentioning a secret project he was building for Rhys. The man seemed to delight in hinting at it without ever giving anything away.  
  
Eventually Rhys simply stopped listening, he'd worry about whatever it was Jack had come up with when it arrived. Instead the cyborg chose to concentrate his attention on observing the oncoming destroyers and trying to figure out where the vault hunters had disappeared to.  
  
He found both to be largely impossible tasks, not that it stopped him from trying. The destroyers seemed to catch the scouts they sent out nine times out of ten, the result of course being that they gleaned very little information on their strength. On top of this no matter how many Maliwan employees he tortured, he still couldn't find Fiona and the others. It was making him a bit depressed if he was to be honest.  
  
Rhys was finishing up with one of the Maliwan soldiers they'd caught when Jack arrived in the room. The subject had already confessed everything he knew, (which was essentially nothing) and Rhys was just trying to distract himself now. Idly carving up the man's skin with a scalpel as the man screamed beneath the blade.  
  
As Jack entered the torture chamber the COO's attention slipped, and the Maliwan man's screaming suddenly magnified by ten. He'd accidentally managed to embed the blade in his subject's cheek. Rhys frowned, judging by the sounds the man was making and the mounting panic it must have gone all the way through to land in his tongue.  
  
He reluctantly looked up at the CEO, "you distracted me."  
  
Jack chuckled, "ah come on cupcake, don't playact, you and I both know you're just toying with him now."  
  
Rhys yanked the scalpel free and examined it as the man strapped to the table screamed. His subject's head tilted to the side and blood dribbled out of his mouth. "I have to do something to keep myself entertained, don't I?"  
  
"I'm not disagreeing," Jack smirked and leaned in to speak at Rhys' ear, "but I have some other ideas for entertainment."  
  
"Oh?" Rhys questioned eyes lifting from the dripping scalpel, "your gift finally ready?"  
  
Jack's smirk twisted into a full blown smug expression, "it is, but I have something else for you first." Intrigued he followed Jack from the cell and down two doors. The older man motioned into the new room open with a small twist of his wrist, "ta da."

  
There was an Eridian with angry red markings across its exoskeleton strapped to the table. Rhys whirled to look at Jack, uninhibited joy spreading across his face, "you got a destroyer."  
  
Jack chuckled, "only the best for my pumpkin to tear apart."  
  
There was a moment of awkward hesitation as Rhys processed the man's words - _'my pumpkin'_ . He'd been _'my fucktoy'_ and _'my weapon'_ before. But _'my pumpkin'_ was a whole new level of intimate that Rhys hadn't been aware Jack was even capable of. The older man seemed to be waiting, on the edge of taking the words back.  
  
Rhys let the grin he'd been wearing only moments before spread back across his face even bigger. Whatever his mixed feelings on the man, more fondness towards him could only work to his benefit. Not that he expected it would stay Jack's hand for a moment if Rhys ever betrayed him, or hell even blinked at him wrong. He'd seen what Jack could do to people he professed to _care_ about.

But it was something. Maybe if he was very lucky, it was even something he could use.  
  
"Thank you," Rhys spoke finally and turned to view the Eridian, "I'll try not to break it too quickly." It was hard to tell past the bug like features, but the cyborg liked to think there was some fear in that face. 

“Oh you break it all you like cupcake, plenty more where that thing came from,” Jack leaned against the wall clearly intending to watch, “besides, we’ll blow them all to hell soon enough cupcake.”

Rhys tilted his head, “might need a mallet and a plyers to get through that shell.”

“Not to worry,” Jack motioned to the far side of the room where a table sat covered with a plastic sheet.

Walking over the cyborg pulled the plastic sheet free, beneath was the typical lay of torture implements as well as a few more exotic options. There was even what Rhys was fairly certain was a crab cracker.

“You know you're the sorts who are why,” this Eridian spoke less clearly than the vault hunters pet, each word dragged too long with a strange hissing noise warping the sound.

Jack turned seemingly fascinated, “why what?”

“Why we must destroy all life,” it continued, “you enslavers of others, you who conquer and cause suffering, dictators. Life is suffering and therefore it must end, and you are the proof. Ironic that you are the help those who seek to stop us use. Living things truly never change, there are always those such as you.”

Rhys raised an eyebrow, and was about to comment until Jack cut in laughing, “you think death is better than life? Take it from someone who knows you sanctimonious mosquito - death sucked.”

“It’s true then, you are an abomination of the worst sort,” the Eridian turned it’s head away as though even looking at Jack was painful.

“We could arrange to do the same to you,” Rhys grinned, “I mean I killed the scientists who brought him back, but I still have the notes. After I torture you to death of course, you do feel pain right?”

The _destroyer_ didn’t respond, desperately looking anywhere but at them, his words had obviously gotten to it. He wrapped the crab cracker around one of it’s fingers.

“Do you have a name?” Rhys asked casually while closing the tool, the creature made a satisfying screeching noise as the exoskeleton surrounding that appendage crunched and broke damaging the flesh beneath. It’s blood was a clear fluid that dripped onto the floor, just as insectoid internally as they appeared to be externally. Or so it would seem.

Though obviously in pain the Eridian still hadn’t given anything up, but that worked for Rhys. He was having too much fun for this to end now. Apparently Jack felt similarly because the man had come up behind his COO to run one hand encouragingly along his neck.

“Ya know pumpkin, I’ve heard some bugs can just heal up from a missing limb,” he suggested, breath ghosting over Rhys’ ear and sending a shiver down the younger man’s spine.

“I think I read that somewhere,” the cyborg picked up a small medical saw, “guess we’ll find out.”

Once he'd sawed away the limb the bug’s life juice rapidly began pouring across the floor. Rhys had to use an instahealth to keep it from bleeding out.

“Well that was disappointing,” Jack sighed.

Rhys frowned slightly, “maybe it was a fluke, we can’t really know unless we try all of them, right?”

Jack let out a laugh, and settled his hand on the younger man’s back, “cupcake, you always know just how to get the party going, don’t you?”

By the end of their _‘session’_ there wasn’t much left of the Eridian. Just an extremely mangled torso and head; but it was still very much alive. Rhys had sent some of the remaining scientists who’d worked on the command code down to see if they could fit it with some cybernetics.

The CEO had bit at the younger man’s ear as he was finishing up and told him to meet him at _the_ apartment within the next hour.

It was Jack's apartment technically, and Rhys did have his own. But the older man seemed to prefer that he stay with him. Not that Rhys would ever suggest such a thing out loud; and there was certainly still the occasional night when _‘the’_ apartment was suddenly _'my'_ apartment. Those were the nights Rhys knew he'd be sleeping alone at his barren home; but they were few and far between.

Jack was sitting on the couch when Rhys entered the living room. The older man checked his watch and grinned, "early, good."  
  
There was always something condescending in the way Jack complemented Rhys, like a man praising his dog. It irked the COO that every time it happened instead of indignation the praise gave him a sense of pride.  
  
"Come here and take off your jacket," Jack pointed at the seat on his left.  
  
Rhys draped his coat across the back of the couch and slid into the seat. There was a long metal box laying across the coffee table. He only had a moment to consider what it might be before the older man's hands were on him. Jack stripped his vest and shirt in rapid succession.  
  
Honestly Rhys almost expected Jack to ignore the gift and head straight into sex. But the man stopped at only the shirt and ran his fingers along where metal met flesh. The older man tilted his head as he examined the arm for a moment before finding the hidden latches and rapidly disconnecting it.  
  
Ah. What the gift must be finally penetrated Rhys' brain and he felt a combination of fear and interest.  
  
Jack looked too pleased with himself for it to be all bad, on the other hand the last time the CEO had his fingers in Rhys' cybernetics he'd taken away the younger man's free will. After a moment's hesitation the cyborg sent the permission for his arm to detach. The piece of chrome metal came off in Jack's hands causing the CEO to make a pleased sound.  
  
It was always uncomfortable for Rhys when his arm was removed. The way his body felt off, wrong, unbalanced. Consciously he was aware that the cybernetics that wove from his shoulder to his spine didn't allow for that. The same system that supported his arm when it was in place also ensured his balance was never thrown off by it. But that didn't stop his subconscious from screaming because his arm had just been taken off. It didn't stop him from suddenly feeling like he was that scared Hyperion employee from six years ago.  
  
Jack tilted the arm as he examined it, "did you really build this with one hand while bleeding out in an Atlas facility?"  
  
So he had read Loaderbots book.  
  
"No, I dealt with the bleeding out first, then there were a few arms before I got to this one. In all fairness, it's not as if I told anyone I built an arm while bleeding out, they just assumed."  
  
Jack snickered, "knew it, there was no way."  
  
Rhys just shrugged as the older man put his arm on the coffee table and pulled the box forward. Jack casually tossed the lid to the side and unveiled the new arm.  
  
"This I built myself pumpkin, so you'd better take care of it," Jack grinned, and the younger man leaned forward to look. It was sleek and primarily made out of a nearly black chrome. The edges of each connecting piece however had thin accents of gold.  
  
Jack reached past him lifting the arm up and waving with it, "there are some software updates, but don't worry cupcake, you'll love em."  
  
Before Rhys could protest or ask what the updates might be the CEO was already plugging the arm in. The younger man's eye flooded with permission requests. He could carefully examine each update, take his time. But that would undoubtedly make Jack angry. So instead Rhys took a deep breath and hit the _‘accept all’_ option.  
  
Rhys could feel Jack running one hand along his hairline as the cyborg's head lulled to the side, his vision became blurred and unfocused. The updates would take another few minutes at least. The COO could hear Jack stand and move away, the lighting dimming ever so slightly moments after.

What seemed an eternity later Rhys’ systems finished updating and he slowly eased himself into a seated position so he could look around.

Jack was seated across from him with a slowly growing self congratulatory expression on his face, “welcome back,” he leaned forward, “you trust me pumpkin?”

 _No, never._ “Yes, of course.”

“Initiate command restraint, password usenet1991.”

_Command restraint?_

Where with the command control he'd gone rigid like some sort of fleshy robot, this command had him utterly relaxed against the couch. Tension he hadn't even been aware of released.

“This is half of the present,” Jack informed him while smirking, “your arm also has a few new upgrades. One of which is an actual finger gun, badass right? I mean I figured with your history it'd be perfect. But don't worry cupcake, it's not loaded right now. On that note, you can still speak. So, if you don't like something all you gotta do is say _‘finger guns’_ and you'll have complete control again. Got it?”

Rhys tried to nod and found his head didn't agree with that choice, right, just words, “yes.”

Jack sat himself back against the couch again, “alright cupcake, strip, slowly.”

The entire time Rhys found he couldn't tear his eyes from the older man, not because of the command restraints. No, he seemed to have the ability to point his eyes wherever he pleased. It was the way Jack looked at him that made him impossible to look away from. The blatant hunger in his mismatched eyes drawing him in. By the time the younger man was naked, he was already half hard.

“Touch yourself for me,” Jack's voice was rough with obvious lust, leisurely unbuttoning his own pants as he watched.

Rhys groaned, he knew it was his own hand steadily stroking himself to attention, but with the command prompting each movement it was somehow a whole different sensation.

“Stop.”

Everything came to an absolute halt and the cyborg let out possibly the neediest utterance of Jack’s name to have ever cross his lips.

The CEO settled himself back more comfortably while shucking his pants, pupils dilating when Rhys spoke, “slick yourself up with that new hand of yours cupcake.”

Rhys was confused to be honest, in particular because he saw no lube in his vicinity. But as he leaned forward over the couch cushions, and cool metal fingers began to circle that ring of muscle he realized why. Apparently there was lubricant in at least one of the fingers on his new arm. Because of course there was.

Self lubricating, a giggle built up in the back of his throat and then didn't quite spill over. The man floated somewhere between embarrassed fascination and unrelenting pleasure. This balance then rapidly tipped into entirely the latter's territory when his fingers slipped past that ring and Jack uttered the phrase “setting one.”

It vibrated.

And oh if he could think straight maybe he'd be questioning Jack's choice to turn his arm into a sex toy but fuck did that feel good.

The older man was standing over him now with an enthralled expression on his face, “do you want more pumpkin.”

His impulse to nod was foiled again and Rhys groaned, “please Jack.”

A few quick commands had him adding two more fingers and then Jack cranked the whole thing up another step, “setting two.”

If Rhys had command of his own legs he was certain he'd have collapsed forward by now. But instead he was left with his voice as his only outlet, and so the room was filled with long breathy moans that were steadily increasing in volume.

Jack drifted closer slowly stroking himself in time with Rhys’ movements, “open up cupcake,” the CEO ran one hand along the younger man's jaw before hesitating a moment.

He was waiting in case Rhys wanted to back out, or so the younger man realized after a moment of confusion. A warm feeling clung to his core at even the implication of consideration for his feelings. Rhys let out another moan and flicked his tongue over his lips.

His message had been received. Any doubt rapidly vacated the older man's face and he looked proud?

What began as shallow thrusts into his mouth quickly became deeper, although not so much that Rhys was having any problems. A fact that surprised him frankly.

Jack stilled for a moment one hand running through his COO’s hair with a fond expression. The weight of the man's length sat in his mouth unmoving and Rhys curled his tongue along it.

“Setting four.”

Jack’s smug look quickly turned into a groan of appreciation as Rhys’ own pleasure reverberated through his mouth. The older man began moving again, his movements becoming faster as the man obviously approached his climax.

Rhys was finding himself more and more desperate, the vibrating movement rapidly reaching levels of too much.

“When I cum down your throat cupcake, I want you to get off right then,” Jack demanded.

The COO had a brief moment to wonder if his cybernetics truly had that much control over his body before Jack was stilling in his mouth. And then Rhys was completely lost to blank perfection as an orgasm rolled through his entire body in waves of relentless euphoria.

When it was over he blinked dully from where he'd slumped against the sofa, numbly realizing he could move his body of his own accord again. Jack was running one hand through his hair and Rhys unconsciously moved his head towards the motion.

“Well Rhysie, what'd ya think?”

“It's one hell of a present Jack,” he admittedly dazedly.

“Just wait until I show you all the new combat capabilities,” the CEO said with a grin.

“Combat capabilities?”

“Tomorrow pumpkin, you and me are going to get some shut eye first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit - I posted a chapter! Sorry these are coming out so damn slow - my motivation to write has been eeeeh lately - doing my best though!
> 
> Aaaand thanks to [visnomer](https://visnomer.tumblr.com/)/[regsregis](http://archiveofourown.org/users/regsregis/pseuds/regsregis) again for the suggestions for smut! It was harder to write than I had anticipated, but fun.
> 
> Please shoot me a comment if you've got the time!


	4. Act Three // Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Chapter Song:** Gonna Need A Grave (By, Xtreme Music)
> 
>  
> 
> [ **Moodboard Here** ](https://dokt0rgunn.tumblr.com/post/163205463443/hide-your-fires-series-stole-the-show-act-three)

_“In every life, there comes a day of reckoning - a time when unsettled scores demand retribution,_  
_and our own lies and transgressions are finally laid bare.”_   
\- **Emily Thorne**

* * *

**Act Three // Chapter Four**

* * *

  
  
Rhys stood next to Jack in a large hanger staring up at a nearly completed Atlas warship. It had heavy modifications courtesy of Jack so that it could house the Eridian device.   
  
"What do you think pumpkin?"   
  
"It's very impressive."   
  
"Damn straight it is," the man beamed, "I mean, everything I do is impressive, but I think I've outdone myself this time."   
  
Rhys tilted his head to the side and nodded along with the CEO's boasting. He wasn't going to gush, there was no reason to inflate the man's already massive ego; but in all honesty the designs had been brilliant.   
  
"She just needs the final piece."   
  
"Finally going to tell me where you hid the device?"   
  
Jack snorted, "no need, it's already on it ways back to us, but when this is done I'll show you. It's my own private system, unfindable for everyone who isn't me, past the edge of the known galaxies."   
  
"How did you find an unfindable system?"   
  
"My Angel can-" he stopped and scowled at the wall for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing somewhat softer, "could find anything."   
  
Rhys froze, this was dangerous territory, the most dangerous territory if he was being honest. While the COO was quite confident that he was currently the most important living person in Jack's world besides himself; the same could not be said of the dead. The younger man actively avoided all discussion of Angel, not out of respect or a lack of curiosity, but rather because his former secretary had died over a picture of the girl.   
  
But saying nothing at this point would also be the wrong answer.   
  
"She must have been a genius," he finally commented.   
  
Jack didn't even seem to notice that there had been an awkward pause in their conversation, he just snorted like Rhys had said something implausible, "even smarter, she was something else entirely."   
  
Rhys simply stepped closer to the ship as though he was examining it. "When will the device arrive?" he asked after giving the older man a minute.   
  
A frown flickered across Jack's face so quickly Rhys nearly missed it before he responded, "tomorrow morning cupcake. So tonight we celebrate, and tomorrow as soon as the weapon is installed, we kill all the ugly alien bastards trying to kill us."   
  
"Celebrate?" Rhys raised one eyebrow, "don't the celebrations typically begin after the war is won?"   
  
Jack scoffed and then wrapped one arm across the younger man's shoulders, "we've already won."   
  
"You realize that's what people in movies say right before they lose right?"   
  
The older man let out an exasperated sigh, "pumpkin, if this was a story I would maybe be worried, even though we _are_ the heroes. But it's not some story and we have an ace up our sleeves. Besides, what the hell is the point of being the richest most attractive people in existence if we don't enjoy it?"   
  
"Wouldn't going over the battle plan be a better use of-" Rhys was cut off as the older man spun him around and pressed one hand against his mouth.   
  
"Na na no, no more of _that_ ," Jack scowled, "you are too high strung, and we are going to fix that. Then after you have the time of your life, you are going to thank me for showing you the sort of fun you used to jerk off to at your middle manager desk while staring at posters of me."   
  
Rhys just nodded, there would be no talking him out of this, and if he kept arguing it would undoubtedly result in some sort of punishment.   
  
A vicious grin of victory spread across Jack's face and he released the younger man's mouth from his grip, "much better."   
  
As it turned out Jack's version of celebrating involved going down to the nearby planet of Aquator, taking over the entire VIP floor of a massive club, and getting hammered.   
  
He'd invited a hodgepodge of important Atlas staff and famous celebrities. All of whom were now crammed into the lower half of the VIP floor. Security stood between the masses and where Jack had decided he and Rhys would sit. As far as the younger man could tell the only reason the CEO had invited any of them was so he had people to lord over.   
  
Rhys had initially had every intention of staying sober. But Jack was having none of that and now the younger man had drank enough expensive rum that they could have switched him to the cheap shit and he would never have noticed.   
  
The voice of one of the guards caught Rhys' attention and he looked up to find two familiar tall thin blond people trying to talk their way past the head of security.   
  
Leaning over Rhys nudged Jack, "do you remember the two Jacobs representatives from my journals?"   
  
"Hot, wanted a threesome," Jack grinned, “course I do.”   
  
"Apparently they're not dead yet," the younger man gestured towards the pair.   
  
The grin on the CEO's face spread further, "shit cupcake, you turned that down?"   
  
"Sasha was...not the sharing sort, I wasn't kidding when I said she would have shot them."   
  
The older man snorted, "that's Pandoran women for ya alright, Nish woulda killed them too, although probably after having a foursome."   
  
Rhys tilted his head and raised one eyebrow suggestively.   
  
"Didn't you think they might try and kill you last time?" Jack laughed.   
  
"I think we could take them, don't you?" Besides, it might be fun to have some breakable items for the night."   
  
"Ooh pumpkin," Jack's eyes were burning with arousal, "you know I love it when you get mean."   
  
The COO grinned and then turned towards where the pair were still arguing with the head of security, "Ida and Clovis from Jakobs right?"   
  
They both nodded, clearly smug that he had recognized them.   
  
"Let them in."   
  
The head of security shrugged and stepped to the side, Clovis marched in without a backwards glance and Ida gave the guard a snooty look as she walked past. The security head for his part just looked amused and returned to doing his job. There was a man who knew Jakobs was about to be down two representatives.   
  
"It's a pleasure to see you again sir, and of course to make the acquaintance of Handsome Jack himself," Clovis' voice was as sweet as honey and his perfect toothpaste commercial smile was still just as cloying Rhys remembered it.   
  
Jack chuckled, and motioned at the seats on the other side of the table.   
  
"I thought Jakobs was done with us?" Rhys commented bluntly.   
  
"Not done, we were merely taking our joint ventures elsewhere until your company was finished playing with the vault hunters," Clovis leaned back in his seat as he spoke.   
  
"Or we killed everyone on Promethea and now Jakobs is scared," Jack laughed, carefully fiddling with his gun as he spoke, "so stop simpering and fess up. Or keep being annoying and see where that gets you."   
  
"This was an arms race, you've clearly won, and Jakobs wants to be on the winning side," Ida cut in swiftly, "we've brought along several potential deals that we've been authorised to offer you." The woman placed a folder on the table one perfectly manicured nail tapping on the cover for emphasis.   
  
Jack tossed Rhys a smug look and settled back, "well then, welcome to the celebration, Rhysie and I were just discussing finding some people to add to our _fun_ . I hear you two have safe words?"   
  
Momentary panic flickered in Clovis' eyes before he responded, "last time we spoke with Rhys he made his disinterest quite clear."   
  
"Last time you talked to me you both implied it was an open offer,” the COO pointed out with one raised eyebrow.   
  
"Of course it still is," Ida responded smoothly cutting in again, "we're just surprised is all, pleasantly of course."   
  
"Of course," Jack chuckled and leaned forward.   
  
They decided to stay at the table for a few more drinks before they'd adjourn to somewhere with a little privacy. A concept that Ida at least was feigning excitement for, but Clovis looked uncertain, the man’s eyes continually darting towards the exits.   
  
However it was not meant to be on that night; Jack was in the middle of dramatically describing his victory over the vault on Elpis, when gunshots started sounding from the other end of the club.   
  
The older man sighed, "we really can't go anywhere without getting someone all excited."   
  
"We are very popular," Rhys quipped sluggishly pulling out his gun and frowning across at the growing chaos. It was going to be hard to aim while plastered.   
  
Clovis screeched and curled into a ball on the floor and Ida had ducked down next to the man, her arms wrapping around him as though that might protect him from bullets.   
  
Jack snorted at the display and Rhys just sighed, so much for _tough_ Jakobs representatives.   
  
"Come on Pumpkin, there's a back door," the older man shouted over the noise.   
  
Rhys nodded frowning as a bullet pinged off his shield. It had taken a moment for his drunken mind to catch up, but seriously, who was attacking them now?   
  
They abandoned the two Jakobs representatives in the VIP section, but grabbed the folder of proposals off the table. A pity they wouldn't get to go through with any of the ideas Rhys had in mind for the pair. Well perhaps they'd survive and then he and Jack would get another shot.   
  
He stumbled through the exit behind the older man silently cursing how drunk he'd gotten. This was exactly why Rhys only drank these days behind at least six security measures, being vulnerable in public was just not an option anymore. _Stupid goddamned handsome idiot._   
  
Rhys was so caught up in his own thoughts that he ran straight into Jack who was standing dead still in the hallway. The younger man peeked around the CEO and nearly face palmed.   
  
August stood in the hallway ahead, flanked by five others, and they all had their guns pointed squarely at Jack.   
  
The blonde man had obviously stress lines, his face was gaunt, hair a little gray, and he'd gained a network of scars across one side of his skull. Age and whoever had tried to smash his skull in had done the man no favours.   
  
"Rhys," his voice was flat, "just the man I was looking for."   
  
"I take it that's your people in there shooting the bar to shit?" Rhys questioned.   
  
"Oh no, those are people who've decided to follow the Eridians."   
  
"Wait, did you join a cult princess?" Jack laughed, "oh of course you did, all those mommy issues left you as the perfect volunteer didn't it?"   
  
August raised one eyebrow, "no, they just offered an opportunity to kill Rhys."   
  
"Me?" the COO raised one eyebrow, "what did I do to you?"   
  
"Are you fucking kidding me?" for the first time emotion sparked across the man's face, "you killed nearly everyone I knew when you blew up Hollow Point, you almost killed me!"   
  
"Is that why you look like you pressed your face into a grinder?" Jack laughed.   
  
A gunshot rang out and the CEO's shield flickered, "you will shut up," August snarled.   
  
Jack had one fist clenched, clearly about to attack; but that wouldn't do, not yet.   
  
Rhys reached out and gently placed one hand on the older man's arm. A sharply turned head had mismatched eyes burning into his skull and Rhys could only hope the other man would understand without words. They were drunk, and alone, and vulnerable, if this could be drawn out then maybe their security would catch up.   
  
Jack rolled his eyes and turned back, "get on with it then, Rhysie clearly wants to hear more about your stupid grievances," he flicked one hand dismissively, "but I'll warn you now, he only wants to hear it because he's a sadist."   
  
August shook his head, "you're not listening to this so you sickos can get off to it. I'm telling you who I'm avenging. And then I'm going to kill you."   
  
"There's more then?" Rhys asked with a smirk, "I'd have thought destroying your home and your face might be enough on its own."   
  
"Oh it is, but I didn’t know it was you then, I didn’t know until everyone found out, and even then I thought, I’ll kill the shitstain someday, but going out of my way for it is stupid, it’ll just get me killed. But then you murdered Sasha."   
  
"Sasha?" Rhys couldn't help it a small laugh escaped his throat, "are you really telling me this is all about your crush on my ex?"   
  
"She was more than a crush,"  the man snarled, "not that you could understand."   
  
"Well tell me then, what am I missing?"   
  
"No I don't think so, it's time for you to finally get what you deserve."   
  
Rhys took a step closer, he'd received no signal from the echo net that their men were coming, likely they were still fighting in the club. Time to take a risk.   
  
He met Jack's eyes briefly and the older man settled back on his heels slightly in preparation of the inevitable explosion of violence.   
  
"So you kill us, and let the galaxies burn?" Rhys questioned.   
  
"Worth it."   
  
Rhys hummed softly and ran one hand along his own jaw as though he was thinking, "so you didn't consider throwing in with Fiona? I mean that is what Sasha would want isn't it?"   
  
August stepped forward clearly riled up again and that's when Rhys had him. A blade dropped into his hand from a sleeve holster and Rhys was rapidly driving it into the blonde man's throat while firing over August’s shoulder with his newly installed finger gun.   
  
Jack dropped the remaining three at the same time with practised ease that nearly hid his drunken sway and then he laughed, "wow pumpkin, gotta say, that was well played."   
  
Rhys stood and watched as August choked on his own blood, "I learned from the best."   
  
Jack laughed, "true."   
  
The slim man turned and was about to respond when two concerning things drew his attention, first In spite of the blood spurting from the man’s throat and mouth August appeared to be laughing. Second there was a faint beeping noise coming from inside the dying man’s coat.

Rhys had just enough time to turn away and shout the words, "dead man's switch," before an explosion knocked him into a wall, and the world went dark.   


* * *

  
Jack's ears were ringing, that stupid fucking dumb blonde asshole, if Rhys died he was going to be so pissed off. A soft cough drew his attention through the dust and debris. Following the sound he found the slim man moments later bleeding from his head with what looked like some pretty serious burns along his back from where the explosion had hit.   
  
As the Rhys' eyes flickered Jack couldn't help but wince. The man's regular flesh and blood eye had been punctured in the blast and a sharp rock was sticking straight out of it.   
  
A weak murmur of protest escaped the man's mouth as Jack turned his head to examine his cybernetics. After he was fairly confident everything was still in place he pressed the instahealth he'd been carrying into the man's shoulder. Waiting for a medical team would have probably meant death.   
  
A shocked gasp like he'd been dunked in cold water echoed through the hall and suddenly Rhys was sitting up and staring around at the rubble.   
  
"What happened?" the man winced and ran on hand along his freshly healed skull.   
  
"Bastard blew you up cupcake."   
  
"Huh," Rhys frowned and then shrugged, "I suppose I did blow him up first."   
  
"True," Jack frowned and reached out to tilt the younger man's head towards himself, "how's the vision?"   
  
"Blurry," he commented, and indeed in spite of the instahealth his normally brown eye looked faded having taken on a milky quality Jack was all too familiar with.   
  
Stupid bastards. Messing up _his_ Rhys. They were going to suffer for this. The Eridians, their little followers, and the vault hunter bastards who were friends with the exploded piece of shit. Maybe everyone on Aquator, yeah, that seemed like a fair price. Jack lashed out and kicked a nearby dismembered limb. It didn’t help.   
  
A clumsy hand reached out and grasped his arm, Rhys was trying to pull himself up.

Jack deflated slightly and hauled the man to his feet, “come on pumpkin, we’ll kill em all later, and it’ll be amazing, just you wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo first of all I am sorry for the delay, figuring out endings is hard, I will try and have the next chapter out for all of you in a week. Let's all just hope I can force myself into that schedule. Haha. 
> 
> Hopefully everyone enjoyed this chapter, please do shoot me a comment if you've got the time.


	5. Act Three // Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags were updated because of this chapter, don't forget to check them if there are things you're trying to avoid.
> 
>  **Chapter Song:** Kill of the Night (By, Gin Wigmore)
> 
> You can find a moodboard for this chapter [here](https://dokt0rgunn.tumblr.com/post/163559583303/act-three-chapter-five-of-stole-the-show-from).

_“It is not the monsters we should be afraid of;_  
_it is the people that don't recognize the same monsters inside of themself.”_  
**\- Shannon L. Alder**

 

* * *

**Act Three // Chapter Five**

* * *

 

Rhys was sitting on the edge of a medical ward bed while an optometrist examined his eye, it was all taking too long in Jack's opinion. The small woman had been humming about it for what felt like hours.  
  
"Well, is it broken or what?" Jack snapped, jaw clenched tightly.  
  
The woman looked up and bit her lip, she was clearly nervous, it must be bad news then. "It's uhm...maybe if..."  
  
"Spit it out!"  
  
"I don't think his eye can be fixed, not without a major transplant or cybernetics."  
  
Rhys frowned ever so slightly but otherwise the man seemed to have no further reaction, seemingly content to just sit and accept his fate.  
  
Jack stepped closer and absently wrapped one hand around the woman's throat. He was only vaguely aware that the optometrist was clawing at his hand in a panic, simply tightening his grip and slamming her into the nearest wall when he finally did notice. He'd been aware of this likelihood, prepared for it in fact, but that didn't mean he had to like it.  
  
Rhys was certainly watching him now with no small amount of interest, one gold cybernetic eye coming to rest on him while the now milky eye struggled to focus. It looked even worse since they got back to the bright lights of the Atlas base. Faded so badly it was impossible to tell that it had been brown. The cornea had been split, and while the instahealth had stitched it back together, it had left deep scarring.  
  
The woman let out her final death rattle beneath his fingers and Jack sighed. That was slightly better, like squeezing a stress ball.  
  
Letting the corpse drop to the floor the CEO reached the edge of the bed and pulled Rhys' face closer to him. Examining the damage for what must have been the fiftieth time. Not that the younger man seemed to mind. In fact he hadn’t been reacting to much of anything since their return; he seemed out of it, lost.  
  
Well.

Jack could fix that.  
  
His grip tightened on the man's jaw and Rhys twitched ever so slightly.  
  
"Alright pumpkin," he shoved the cyborg back until he was pressed against the mattress, "I'm gonna strap you down, but you keep steady for me, capiche?"  
  
Jack slid a tray of medical instruments closer and plucked up the speculum with a small grin as he clanked the metal pieces together.  
  
There was a strained breath, and a small shaky movement as the slim man gave into momentary panic. "Jack don't you think we should let a professional do this?"  
  
Jack tightened the hand at the younger man's jaw, "you trust me don't you cupcake?"  
  
Rhys hesitated and then quickly nodded, albeit jerkily.  
  
"And who would you rather was carving out your eye, me, or some son of taint who doesn't deserve to touch what's mine?"  
  
A shudder ran through the COO and his expression flared with some unspoken emotion before settling, "you Jack."  
  
"Good, now relax, I've got you pumpkin," the older man ran one thumb under the damaged eye, after a moment Rhys let out a sigh and laid back against the cot.  
  
Jack carefully tightened the restraints around the younger man's skull and ran his tongue over his lips. It was the only solution, that stupid blonde idiot had broken what was his. So he would remove the defects, replace it with his own creation, and Rhys would be better than new.  
  
He disengaged Rhys' cybernetic arm and placed it on a nearby table before rummaging through the nearby drawers. It took a few minutes of impatient fumbling, but he finally found what he was looking for. Zolpiminphen (known colloquially as Edge), a pain killer found on Menoetius and of course marketed by Anshin.  
  
It was initially meant to be a safer replacement for more heavy duty pain relief drugs, but they quickly found in cases of extreme pain such as surgery, it really only dulled things. It made pain bearable, but did not even get close to erasing it.  
  
Anshin went on to market it as a drug that would take off the edge for recovering drug addicts and earned it's nickname with cheesy commercials that loudly asked _"do you need to take off - the EDGE? Well, look no further!"_  
  
For Jack's purposes of course, it was perfect, he didn't want the younger man to be numb for their session, but he also didn't want him passing out from pain and missing half the fun. The CEO pulled on medical gloves, snapping each one at the wrist as he let go. He then returned to Rhys with a rubber tourniquet in one hand, and a shot of Edge in the other.  
  
"Alright cupcake," he spoke as he tied the piece of rubber off above Rhys' elbow, "I need you to clench your fist for me."  
  
There was hesitation for a moment, but then Rhys clenched his hand, and closed his eyes. It wasn't hard to find the man's veins after that, the blue lines standing out starkly against pale skin.  
  
Rhys settled further into the medical cot as the drug took hold and a hazy expression slackened his normally stern face. He restrained the man's remaining hand and both legs down before finally getting to what he'd been itching to do from the moment he'd gotten a look at the damage.  
  
A grumble came from the younger man as he wedged the speculum into place to keep the man’s eyelids out of the way. Tool in place Jack patted Rhys on the cheek, "open up cupcake."  
  
"You're taking out my eye not my-" Rhys stopped as he watched Jack hold up a bite guard, "ah."  
  
"Unless you want to potentially accidentally bite your own tongue off, I mean I'm sure there's a cybernetic version of that too."  
  
Rhys scowled although matched with the fuzzy high expression it was less threatening, and more like a small child attempting intimidation for the first time, "fine."  
  
Pleased Jack leaned over his subject and tilted his head trying to determine the best angle to start at. He'd scooped people's eyes out before, but never with the intention of them being alive and well at the end before. But he could be delicate for once, or as delicate as you could get gouging someone's eye out at any rate.

 

* * *

  
The drugs Jack had given him had lulled Rhys into a pleasant haze, at least it did until an indistinct blurry thing jammed into the side of his eye and pulled. The sharpness of the pain timed to the sound of a snip nearly cut through the drugs. Involuntarily the COO could feel his body jerking against the restraints.  
  
A pleased hum came from where he knew Jack was and then there was another sharp sting followed by the sensation of a thread sliding through nerves. Rhys groaned into his mouth guard and Jack pet the side of his head. It was terrifying but perfect in ways he’d never be able to name, a true rush.  
  
"Doing so good cupcake," Jack leaned into the half of the room Rhys could see clearly, his eyes were lit up like a kid at Christmas.  
  
The previous tugs and snips mimicked themselves on the other side of his eye, this time with more confidence. It wasn't all painful Rhys was finding, it certainly hurt; but more in a way that made him want to have Jack fuck him into the medical cot. Idly he wondered if that was because of the drugs or his own masochism? Both, he decided as another snip shot pain through his face.  
  
Jack paused in his venture to run one gloved finger along Rhys' brow and then a chortle filled the room. "Holy fuck Rhysie, you're getting off to this," the older man ran one hand up and tightened it in the COO's hair, "I mean I knew I would, but shit pumpkin, you're just full of surprises."  
  
Rhys let out a soft moan at the tug; in combination with the shooting pain in his eye and the haze of the drugs, yes okay, yeah it was definitely doing something for him. Had he been more clear of thought he might have contemplated how truly messed up that probably was. But the overwhelming conflict of sensations thankfully bought him a respite from deep thoughts and instead he was content to sink into the experience.  
  
Jack let go and vanished for a moment and Rhys barely held back the whine that had been attempting to slip past his tongue. There was the sound of a tray rolling closer and then Jack climbed on top of the younger man tiny scissors and a tweezer in hand.  
  
"Oh cupcake, this is why I keep you around you know," tug, snip, blissful _agonizing_ pain, and then Jack ground his hips forward, "you make everything so much fun."  
  
Rhys knew he still had his echo eye's vision but he couldn't have told you what was occurring, too lost in an illusion of peace that felt moments from shattering.  
  
A final thread ran into place and then Jack was pulling at the same time he canted his hips forward. There was a sickening pop as the eye came free. Rhys could hear his own voice somewhere between a groan of pain, and a moan porn stars would be proud of. Jack was also adding his own voice to the cacophony with a pleased murmur.  
  
"Alright," Jack grinned brandishing a larger pair of medical scissors, "fix you right up cupcake."  
  
Blinding pain blanketed the world quite suddenly and Rhys truly thought he might pass out. When it finally faded he could feel liquid running down his face and Jack slowly petting the other side with a fond expression.  
  
"That was something else pumpkin, almost wish you hadn't already gouged out the other one so we could do it again."  
  
A pitiful sound entered the room and it took Rhys a moment to realize that had been his own voice.  
  
"Don't worry cupcake, surgeons are gonna be along in a minute to get the rest of that gunk outta there and put in your new eye," Jack was running circles along Rhys' forehead now, "and then you're going to heal up, and we are going to rip these alien bastards to pieces."

 

* * *

   
Jack bit his lip as he watched the surgeon's click the lense into place for Rhys' new eye. He could have gone for basics, sure, but why not improve upgrade where he could.  
  
The new eye he created had an algorithm based on predictions Angel had made while she was alive. It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't nearly as good as what Angel had been able to do. But it was still acceptable. Of course he'd given it limits, for example it couldn't analyze Jack, he knew better than to let anyone have that sort of advantage ever again.  
  
The surgeons were quickly cleaning up and fleeing the room one by one. A cleaning crew had long since come for the optometrists body. But the fact that they'd entered to Rhys sans eye, blood oozing from a fresh wound, while Jack whispered sweet dreams of bloody murder in his ear seemed to have unsettled the medical staff.  
  
It would be a few hours until Rhys woke up and a few weeks until he was healed enough to use the weapon. Stupid aliens. Stupid blonde idiot. He wished August had survived just so that he could get a little payback.  
  
But there were other people to torment.  
  
Jack took one final look at his pale bloodstained COO, and then left the operating theatre.  
  
He arrived at his destination in a matter of minutes. Cell block G, now filled with sixteen morons who had joined that Eridian destroyer cult and attacked them at the club.  
  
Jack stopped in the center of the circular block and then turned on his mic.  
  
"Alright dipshits, you fucked up,"  Jack held up Rhys' detached eyeball in one hand, "this was my COO's eye, and your extremely stupid and ugly blonde leader ruined it. Now I know you all aren't afraid of death. But I'm not gonna kill ya. Oh no. I've decided the only way to pay for this little attempt on our lives is an eye for an eye. Well, all of your useless eyes, for Rhysie's eye. I mean it's still not really equal, but don't worry - I'll figure out what else to cut off real soon."  
  
A few of the prisoners were already scrambling backwards in their cells, but most were stoically refusing to move. At least they were until the door opened and a line of robots entered the room, each one stopping in front of a cell.  
  
"Now we don't have any pain killers for you and all the professional surgeons are busy, but I programmed these bots just for your stupid faces," Jack cackled, "so uh, try not to move too much, we don't want you getting brain damage too early on."  
  
A symphony of screams commenced as Jack sauntered from the room stopping every so often to watch the robots work. Rhys was gonna love the film he was making, that was for damn sure.

 

* * *

  
**4 Weeks Later**  
  
Rhys stared at himself in the mirror and tilted his head, he found his new eye off putting; a pale blue just slightly too bright to be natural. It was like stepping back in time. He couldn't be sure of Jack's intentions with his colour choice. But to Rhys it was a clear and obvious claim. Not that he wasn't aware of who he belonged to, _only for the moment_ , but this was a constant reminder.

Jack hadn't explained exactly how it worked, only that it had a prediction algorithm. The first person Rhys tried to scan with it had been the older man. The eye simply informed him that Jack was ‘ _Handsome,’_ and had given up no further data.  
  
On others however the world turned into a blue haze of information, too much if he was being honest. The algorithm did it's best to interpret the details for him, but it felt unfinished, as though some important component of the equation was missing. Of course Rhys knew better than to suggest as much. Jack tended to take such things personally.  
  
Tomorrow they finally went to fight the Eridians after a month long delay. A delay that had cost them Grophic IV. Rhys had never gone there and had no attachment to the planet, but he had to admit that it burned that the destroyers had managed to press ahead; and all because of one piece of rock lodging itself in his eye.  
  
"You gonna stand in the bathroom all night or come celebrate with me cupcake?" Jack’s voice sounded annoyed.  
  
The man had decided another celebration out in public would not be happening until after they’d  killed all of the Destroyers. But he still wanted to celebrate the oncoming death of an entire alien species, and so he'd decided he and Rhys would celebrate in his apartment this time.  
  
He'd even invited Ida and Clovis.

As it turned out Clovis had died in the bar. But Ida had accepted the offer, and then tried to assassinate them shortly after she'd entered the apartment. She claimed that she was getting vengeance for Clovis' death. But Jack wasn't convinced.  
  
"Come on cupcake, hurry the fuck up, or I'm going to start without you."  
  
Rhys sighed and examined himself in the mirror one final time before turning to join Jack in his living room. In the younger man's absence the CEO had tied Ida to his coffee table and had an assortment of torture tool options gathered from around the apartment. Knives, a lighter, a few lengths of sturdy cord, a hammer, a set of screwdrivers, the blender, a spoon, and for some reason, a plastic spatula.  
  
Rhys held up the spatula and raised one eyebrow, "what are you going to use this for?"  
  
Jack grinned, "not sure yet."  
  
"You just want to be able to say that you've tortured someone with a spatula."  
  
"Variety is the spice of life cupcake," the older man smiled down at Ida, "now wanna admit that Jacobs sent you to kill us sweetcheeks?"  
  
She scowled, "Jacobs didn't do shit, they actually forbid me from coming here."  
  
Jack sighed, "language," he made a soft tsking noise and then backhanded her before glancing over at the cyborg.  
  
The prediction algorithm was already at work analysing the woman and drawing data from the echonet, "she's lying."  
  
Jack chuckled and looked back down, "you know what I think, I think if you wanted revenge and Jacobs didn't want you to get it; you'd have given them up straight away. I mean if they tried to stop you from going on some crazed revenge trip, you wouldn't owe them anything."  
  
Ida rolled her eyes, "think whatever you like."  
  
Jack sighed, long and dramatized, "no see that's not how it works, how it works is we torture you all night and then you tell us the truth."  
  
Rhys leaned forward slightly, conflicted as he was about his new eye, he was quite enjoying the edge it could give him in this particular game.  
  
"Well cupcake, wanna take turns?"  
  
The younger man couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face, "of course I do."  
  
Jack plucked up a hammer and hummed slowly running the metal along the woman's leg, "you know Rhysie and I were going to do this to you and your friend anyways, just for shits and giggles, so maybe you should be glad he died when he did?"  
  
"What happened to not swearing?" she gritted out as he passed her knee.  
  
Jack smiled, "swearing is for grown ups," he informed her as he suddenly slammed the hammer into the table to next to her knee.  
  
She made a high pitched noise and winced, slowly peeling her eyes open when she realized the hammer hadn't struck. "I hope you both are-"  
  
"-Torn into a thousand pieces, blah, blah, blah," Jack rolled his eyes, and then brought the hammer down on her hand this time, "we know, we've heard it all before, you don't gotta strain yourself."  
  
The noise she made when the hammer came down wasn't quite a scream, but it was close, ragged, panicked, and oh so perfect.  
  
Rhys smiled as Jack ground the hammer down into her freshly smashed fingers.

His turn.

Surveying the available items, Rhys finally settled on the spoon.  
  
"Really cupcake?" Jack snickered.  
  
"I lost my eye," Rhys commented, "and you already took out all the cult followers eyes. I should get to take someone's eye out."  
  
Jack's snicker turned into a laugh, "can't argue with that logic."  
  
Ida struggled valiantly against the ropes and clenched her eyes shut. But all her effort got her was Jack grabbing her by the jaw and forcing one eye open.  
  
Rhys sat the spoon against the bottom of her eyelid. "Don't suppose you feel like admitting the truth yet? Promise we'll put you out of your misery."  
  
The woman attempted to spit at him and only managed to get drool on her own face.  
  
"Well that was gross," Jack quipped.  
  
Shrugging the cyborg pressed down on the spoon slowly, he found a certain level of glee as he heard the muscles rip apart and watched the blood well to the surface.  
  
Ida was definitely screaming now.  
  
Working the spoon around in a circle there was another tear and squelch as he managed to get the spoon underneath.  
  
And forward.  
  
Her eyeball came out finally and rolled along her cheek; she looked like she was about to pass out.  
  
"Oh no, none of that," Jack pressed a needle into her chest and depressed it all the way.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Just an energy boost to keep her awake, don't worry cupcake, it won't dull any of the pain."  
  
Rhys leaned forward with one of the kitchen knives, "good."  
  
Sawing through the optic nerve Rhys was rewarded with another gush of red fluid which rapidly filled the now empty socket.  
  
"Nice," the older man stood and leaned towards Rhys running one hand along the back of his neck, "remind me to tell you about the first time I spooned someone's eyes out later."  
  
"Is this the one where you scooped a man's eyes out in New Haven, and then he was running into things?"  
  
"Uh yeah," the older man's hand froze and a confused expression spread across his face.  
  
"You broadcast it over the PA system on Helios as an inspirational story."  
  
"Oh, right, I forget sometimes that you used to be one of my little peons," Jack laughed and settled his hand against the small of Rhys' back. "Well pumpkin, why don't you take out the other one and then I'll see how far I can jam the spatula down her throat, I’d hate to interrupt you halfway through.  
  
"Jacobs sent me!" Ida suddenly shouted, "okay. I admit it, they sent me, but they will kill my brother if they find out I told you!"  
  
"Don't worry sweetcheeks, it was pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain," Jack said dryly, “they’ll never know you spilled the beans, probably.”  
  
"Now, back to business," Rhys held up the spoon again and gave her his best salesman smile.  
  
"You- you said you'd kill me fast if I admitted-" Ida was cut off as Jack wrapped one hand around her jaw and held her head still again.  
  
"I lied," Rhys grinned, Jack laughed, and the spoon was rapidly jammed into her remaining eye socket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only took me about a week this time, so improvement right there. Hopefully it's actually good!
> 
> Shoot me a comment if you've got the time! I love to hear from you guys even if it's just like a "yo, good story".
> 
> Next chapter - fighting the destroyers. Dun Dun Dun.


	6. Act Three // Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Chapter Song:** Scars (By, Michael Malarkey)
> 
> You should all go [here](https://visnomer.tumblr.com/post/163951722527) and check out some AMAZING art that [visnomer](https://visnomer.tumblr.com) did of my Rhys and Jack. It definitely had some influence on this chapter.

 " _Are you telling the truth, or do you confuse your lies with reality? The question is comical._  
_The answer is lost in the maelstroms of consciousness._  
_It's even impossible to pretend, eventually, that the question wasn't asked._  
_You've been kidding yourself about yourself for so long, you're someone else."_  
**-David Guterson**

* * *

**Act Three // Chapter Six**

* * *

When Ida finally died Jack had been so turned on he entirely ignored that there was a body tied to the coffee table and just shoved Rhys down on the nearest piece of furniture. For his part the younger man didn’t seem to mind, the blood splattered face turning back to look at him was flushed with excitement and Jack grunted appreciatively. It was that look that had him coming back over and over again, it was that Jack could threaten Rhys, strangle him, take away his free will, and yet, here he was still eager to hop into bed with him, still wanted him.

It wasn’t long before the CEO had Rhys bent over the back of the couch, the younger man bracing himself against it as Jack drove into him with long slow thrusts. Tomorrow morning they went into a warzone, and Jack wanted to make sure he got a memorable fuck in this time before he went off to brave the enemy. As sure as Jack was of their success, privately he admitted that dying had shown him that it was a possibility, although one _he had_ overcome.

In that particular vein of thinking a genius idea struck him mid thrust and he paused, “do you trust me Rhysie?”

The cyborg glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowed, “of course I do Jack.” It was lie of course. The CEO wasn’t stupid, Rhys had never and would never trust him. But it was close enough.

“Initiate command restraint,” he said watching as the younger man raised one eyebrow, when no protest was raised he continued, “password usenet1991.”

The younger man went limp against the couch, eyes still following Jack, he was clearly curious as to what the plan was. For a few moments it was just to run his eyes over the man sprawled on the couch, eyes lowering to where his own dick disappeared in his COO.

“I hope there’s more to this plan,” Rhys finally commented in an exasperated tone of voice.

“Don’t you worry cupcake. Now, you can react however you want, except the following two things,” he folded the younger mans arms behind his back, “you are going to keep your arms like that, and you’re going to shut down your optical processors.”

“Jack?” a slightly confused tone filled the room as he slipped free, the younger man’s now blind cybernetic eyes were blankly staring up and to the right of the older man.

“Promise you’ll enjoy it pumpkin, just wait a second,” Jack ran one hand along the other man’s leg and Rhys shivered under his touch.

He pulled away and watched as the cyborg tried to tell where the next point of contact would be. There was something perfect about having a person voluntarily helpless to his whims that just made Jack feel even more godlike than normal.

One hand came down on the cyborg’s ass cheek with a resounding crack and the man let out a surprised noise that rapidly transitioned to a pleased hum. Jack just chuckled and ran one hand along the now slightly red flesh, “you know cupcake, I think I like you this way best.”

“While having sex with you?” the younger man asked.

Jack chuckled and brought his hand down on the other side this time, “submissive.”

Rhys snorted, “I always do what you tell me to do.”

Jack brought his hand down again slightly harder this time and Rhys groaned, “don't lie to me pumpkin, besides, obedience isn't the same as submission.”

“If this is a request to start wearing leather in bed-”

Jack scoffed and ran one hand up the younger man’s spine softly before delivering another sharp smack to his ass, “we don't need leather cupcake,” he ran one finger along the other man’s dataport, “we've got more sophisticated means."

Rhys shivered under him, “I only mean I don't do latex and leather, not my style, doesn't match my eyes.”

Jack rolled his own eyes and then stood, “stop being such a smartass Rhysie, or I'll gag you and drag this out all night.”

An intrigued expression crossed the other man’s face and he started to speak again before Jack clamped one hand over his mouth. As tempting as fulfilling that threat was, they did have things to do in the morning.

“Sit still and pretty for a sec, I have something I want to do,” the CEO ran one hand along Rhys’ thigh and then reached out to pick up a clean knife from the collection of tools he'd gathered for Ida. He ran the spine of the blade up the younger man’s rib cage very slowly, “maybe write my name on you, so that everyone will always know who you belong to, what do you think?”

Rhys’ breath hitched and he tried to throw an angry look over his shoulder, the intended effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that the younger man couldn't actually focus on him. “If you cut or otherwise put your name on me in anyway, I swear I will make you regret it.”

Jack scoffed and gave the man a light whack on his abused ass with the flat of his knife, “lighten up, I was only joking, though I'm tempted to do it anyways since you're being such a brat about it.”

Rhys’ scowl was interrupted with a yelp as Jack suddenly flipped him onto his back and let him drop against the couch.

“You know Rhys,” he said as he lined himself up and then drove his dick back into that warm tight heat, “I've been nothing but nice to you, could show some gratitude from time to time.”

“Sorry Jack,” the Rhys gasped, and the older man grinned.

“I'm sure you'll make it up to me cupcake,” he wrapped one hand around Rhys’ throat tightening though not enough to cut off any oxygen just yet. A breathy sound escaped the younger man as Jack dragged the spine of the blade along his stomach, and then he tilted it just barely enough for the point to touch but not quite cut.

The softly moaned utterance of of his name was all that Jack needed to press forward in his endeavour, and as usual, Rhys delivered in spades. The CEO’s name fell from his mouth like he was praying to a deity. In some ways Jack figured he sort of was the man’s god, he'd been influencing this man before he ever even met him, and really who would Rhys be without Handsome Jack?

That thought alone almost had Jack giving into the warmth wrapped around him, but a soft gasp pulled him back to reality and the man he'd just accidentally cut in his excitement.

It wasn't a bad injury he decided, and Rhys didn't seem opposed either, the man doing his best to grind down on Jack in spite of the fact he was down two limbs and his eyes. The knife itself was impaled through the couch just below the man’s hip bone. A trail of blood showing it's path from where he'd been balancing it on his COO’s stomach moments before.

He let the knife stay where it was and ran his hand through the red mess he'd created, he hadn’t actually meant to cut the other man, but now that he had he decided to enjoy it. His other hand was still wrapped around Rhys’ throat and he added a small amount of pressure, just enough to make breathing slightly harder than normal.

Rhys’ eyes were blown wide and Jack watched with no small amount of glee as the man came apart beneath him. Fuck he was good wasn't he? Yes, the answer was yes, he should be getting a goddamned medal for his skills.

Jack drove himself home moments later on nothing more than the pained gasps of the overstimulated man beneath him. One perfect moment of bliss later and he eased himself off of the injured man with a pleased grunt.

Rhys leaned forward with a long groan, and a mumbled “finger guns.” His eyes flickered back on at the use of his safeword and he slowly unclasped his arms.

Jack grinned down at the man and then patted him on the cheek, “you go get cleaned up cupcake, I'll send for the janitors.”

Rhys eased himself up without a word and then headed for the bedroom, moments later Jack could hear the shower start up.

After taking care for everything and then getting in his own quick shower he was pleased to find Rhys curled into his bed already dozed off. That too was oddly satisfying in it’s own way, that in spite of everything the man was perfectly happy to fall asleep there, entirely at his mercy should he so choose to suffocate him.

But Jack of course didn’t suffocate him, choosing instead to slide into bed next to the man and watch the soft rise and fall of his chest. It was pleasant in a way that made Jack want to either put the man in a bubble or stab him several times. But when the younger man unconsciously curled into into Jack’s side with a quiet sigh, he didn’t pull away and simply let himself drift off to sleep. 

* * *

The silence of his office was a pleasant reprieve from the constant in his life that was Handsome Jack. He'd told the man he wanted to pick a few things up before they were due to leave. Not a direct lie, there were things in his office he wanted. But he hadn't really needed them and he was lingering rather longer than was necessary.  
  
Rhys stared down the mirror and tried to find himself in the image there. In many ways to him this was the only version of himself there had ever been; everything that came before seemed to be more and more a distant daydream.  
  
He just couldn't quite match the man staring back at him with that younger version of himself whose greatest concern was Hugo Vasquez. There were influences here and there he supposed. It had been with a certain sort of private glee that he'd picked out some truly obnoxious multicoloured socks this morning. But in truth the young man with aspirations to climb the ranks of Hyperion was long gone.  
  
Absently he wondered if other people did this. Did other people stare into the mirror and wonder when they'd become a whole new person? He was sure that Jack didn't. In fact he was sure that if he ever brought the concept up Jack would inevitably make fun of him for it.  
  
"I think you need a tie Sir," a voice came from the door to his office and Rhys turned to take in Rothstein who had managed to sneak up on him, yet again.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"One must look one's best when defeating horrible alien invaders," his PA tilted his head, "and that outfit really needs a tie."  
  
"Pity I haven't got one then," Rhys started while turning to strap his gun into place.  
  
Rothstein made a soft tsking noise, and then pulled a black tie out of his pocket.  
  
"Why do you have a tie in your pocket?"  
  
"I always have a spare tie in my pocket," the man looked almost offended.  
  
Rhys frowned, he was loath to admit it, but in spite of watching several tutorials on the echonet he still had no idea how to put on a tie.  
  
Rothstein let out a sigh and held it up, "allow me Sir?"  
  
The prediction algorithm informed him there was a less than two percent chance Rothstein would try and strangle him with the piece of fabric. However something else did catch his attention. His echo eye picking up on a flicker as his PA came forward with the tie, and his new eye processed that into further information.

The tie was bugged.  
  
It was clever advanced technology woven into the fabric itself, likely undetectable under most circumstances. For a moment he wondered if it was the Destroyers, had they gotten to his PA too? But the algorithm already had that worked out for him, the bug though clever, was most certainly created by human hands.  
  
And then it all clicked together, pieces of a puzzle finally falling into place. Rhys could have laughed or screamed at how stupid he'd been to not see it sooner.  
  
How the Vault Hunters seemed to know where and when he and Jack were going on Pandora, how they knew to try and stop them at Promethea, and how Fiona had gotten onto the space station on her own in the first place.

At some point Rothstein had turned on him. The prediction algorithm quickly filled in the blanks, the revival of Jack was the most likely culprit for his sudden switch of allegiances, probably shortly after Rhys had been rescued from his trial.  
  
And the tie...  
  
Was obviously so that the vault hunters could track and kill them as soon as they finished with the Destroyers.  
  
But what to do about it.  
  
"Sir?" Only moments had passed but Rothstein had taken a half step backwards with a small frown.  
  
Time to play the part, "sorry, I was lost in thought."  
  
Rothstein simply nodded and leaned forward tightening the tie like the noose it was intended to be. 

* * *

Jack raised one eyebrow as Rhys approached, the man usually dressed nicely, but today he was really dressed to the nines. He was even wearing a tie.  
  
The older man reached out and wrapped one hand around the material, "who did it up for you?"  
  
A sour expression flickered across the other man's face, "Rothstein."  
  
Jack just snorted but decided not to press the issue today, "you look awfully dressed up."  
  
"I like it; besides, you can hardly comment. You look like you're planning a drug fueled trip across the desert," as he spoke the COO tugged his tie out of Jack's hands.  
  
"What?" the younger man wasn't making any sense, they weren't going near a desert.  
  
"The sunglasses Jack," Rhys looked exasperated.  
  
"Oh, I found them on some little schmucks desk," Jack grinned pleased with himself and took off the pair of yellow sunglasses for a moment to give Rhys a closer look. "I'm sure they look way better on me."  
  
Rhys opened his mouth for a moment and then just sighed, "given the sheer volume of echo films you've seen how is that not one of them?"  
  
"What's not one of them?"  
  
"Nevermind."  
  
Jack just shrugged, the man got worked up over the weirdest shit, "you feeling okay cupcake? Cause you better figure it out fast. I'm not pushing this back any further, we've got alien sons of taints to blow the hell up."  
  
"I'm fine," Rhys spoke acerbically, "let's go."  
  
The CEO raised one eyebrow, something was definitely wrong, "what's got your expensive silk boxers in a bunch?"  
  
"It's nothing," Rhys frowned and his eyes darted around nervously, "I'll tell you after the battle."  
  
That he didn't like, not at all, "cupcake," he grabbed the tie back again and pulled, "I asked you a question."  
  
Two cybernetic eyes glared back at him as Rhys was tugged forward by his own tie, "it's nothing you need to concern yourself with now."  
  
Jack scowled and pulled the tie tighter until the fabric was pressing into the other man's skin, "oh don't get rebellious on me now. I get to decide what I concern myself with. Not you. So when I tell you to spit something out, you do it."  
  
The thin man's eye twitched and then suddenly the tie was yanked free and the younger man was shoving him backwards, one cybernetic hand clamped firmly over the older man's mouth.

"Right now, is not the right time," a snarl pulled at the younger man's face and Jack felt oddly turned on by the situation, "I have your best interests at heart as always, because I don't have a choice."  
  
Jack tried to push forward and put the other man in his place, but the metal arm pressing him back against the wall of the hanger was unmoving. A spike of real anger surged up through him. How dare that little shit.  
  
Rhys was still talking seemingly unbothered by Jack's attempts at movement, "you and your stupid stomping forward with no regard for anything but your own entertainment," the hand curled tighter and Jack felt almost like the pressure might break his jaw.  
  
Jack's eyes darted from side to side, where were the damn soldiers when he needed them. He wasn't sure how far Rhys would take this and it was with a stab of panic that he realized a simple passive command to not kill still left far too many options available.

“Even though you took my fucking free will, and use me like some shiny toy you can take apart and replace pieces of, I have only ever been loyal to you,” Rhys glared, “you and your constant asking me to trust you, and yet this one thing I need you to trust me on, and you just can’t let it go can you?”

Jack was seconds from pressing a gun to the other man’s skull and pulling the trigger, galaxies be damned when he noticed the other man’s new blue eye was blinking. It took him another moment to realize the idiot was trying to tell him something in code. Which would be great and all if Jack knew what the hell the code was.

But he wasn’t stupid, if Rhys was trying to flash a code that obviously meant he couldn’t speak out loud. That being said, he had a feeling the man could have gotten the message across without slamming him into a wall and squeezing his jaw until it hurt. So he didn’t shoot him, but he did bring his gun up to point at his stupid COO.

Rhys let his cybernetic hand fall free, a slight wince the only sign that he knew exactly what was coming next. Jack slammed his knee up into the taller man’s stomach and grabbed him by the throat before quickly pressing him into the nearby wall.

His gun was still pressed under the younger man’s chin and he almost growled as the idiot’s face started to go red, “if you ever do something that fucking stupid again cupcake, I swear I will replace every inch of you with cybernetics until I have a robot that can fire off that stupid weapon for me instead of a disobedient little moron who thinks he’s allowed to have his own plans. Got it?”

Rhys wheezed and Jack pulled him forward only to slam him back into the wall again.

“What was that pumpkin, you’ll have to speak up, I can’t hear you,” he sneered down at the man as he finally let go of his throat and Rhys dropped to the ground, legs apparently having given out on him.

The cyborg’s voice came out with a rasping sound as he looked up at the older man, “I’m sorry Jack.”

The CEO pressed one shoe to Rhys’ side and shoved sending the other man sprawling backwards, “you’d better be sorry pumpkin, because I’m not making idly threats here, capiche?”

Rhys’ head dropped and Jack grinned, yeah, he got it, the man’s voice was still rough as he answered, “yes Sir.”

Chuckling now Jack turned and started to head for the ship, “get up pumpkin, no more stupid distractions, we got aliens to shoot.”

* * *

Their ships had to travel through several systems before they would reach the destroyers and Rhys spent the first hour in the bathroom scowling at rapidly forming bruises on his throat. Ungrateful bastard, he should just let it go through, let himself die just to punish Jack. He knew he wouldn’t, but he was still angry.

The threat to replace him piece by piece had in truth shaken him, sometimes he could fool himself into thinking this was some sort of partnership, it was always a harsh lesson when reality crashed back into place. Handsome Jack didn’t have partners, he had followers, minions, robots, and idiots like him who thought they were worth something more and then were rapidly reminded they weren’t.

After cleaning himself up he headed out and onto the bridge to stand behind Jack and wait, “took you long enough cupcake,” Jack laughed turning from the viewport, “I was about to come check if you died in there.”

Rhys cleared his throat, there was still a rasp to it when he spoke and he suspected it would stay until either he healed naturally or Jack let him use an insta-health, probably the former unless something catastrophic happened, “not yet.”

Jack chuckled and patted the cyborg on the cheek, “cheer up pumpkin, you and I are about to save the six galaxies, no, the fricken universe really.”

Rhys just smiled thinly and hoped fervently that Jack was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am so sorry for the delay! I uh just honestly couldn't get myself to write for a bit. 
> 
> But uh here we go and the last two chapters should be along shortly as I already have them partially written. 
> 
> Secondly - a second huge thanks to [visnomer](https://visnomer.tumblr.com) for the suggestion that since Rhys now has two cybernetic eyes Jack could turn them off. 
> 
> Shoot my a comment if you have the time! And thanks for sticking with me!


	7. Act Three // Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Song: A Rush of Blood to the Head - By, Coldplay

_“It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.”_  
\- Albert Camus

* * *

**Act Three // Chapter Seven**

* * *

 

Rhys left Jack to his lording over the bridge, and instead spent the next two hours of travel exploring every nook and cranny of the ship while scanning for anything that wasn’t a standard Atlas signal.

He felt like paranoia was eating him from the inside out, each muttered conversation between workers seemed like a potential betrayal, and every strange or sudden sound felt like a gun to the back of his head.

He was halfway through scanning the engineers break room when a murmuring voice drew his attention. Rhys spun on one heel trying to find the source of the sound.

“What is he even doing in here?” A man a little bit older than Rhys himself in smudged overalls sat at one of the tables with a snotty expression. He'd whispered the words - but not nearly quietly enough.

“What am _I_ doing in here?” Rhys could hear his own voice pitching up in tone, but somehow he couldn’t help it.

The man shrugged seemingly unaware of the impending danger, although his co-workers were quickly edging away, “I mean, no offense Sir, it’s just weird.”

Rhys drew a breath in through his nose and smiled thinly, “and you think that’s your business do you?”

“Uh,” the man looked around apparently noticing that the other workers had now entirely vacated the room, he stood almost hesitantly and took a step backwards, “I was just curious.”

The COO could feel his eye twitch, who was this man even? And why was he asking so many questions? It was too dangerous. Rhys took several steps forwards until the man was backed into the wall.

“You don’t get to ask questions,” Rhys hissed low and angry.

And then the man threw a punch.

It was clumsy, a clear indication of a complete lack of practice, and Rhys easily avoided it. He had intended to kill the man regardless, but he’d meant to do it quickly, he only had so much time after all. But the attempted punch could hardly be ignored.

Wrapping his cybernetic hand around the man’s throat he pulled, dragging the man forwards and then out of the break room. Workers looked up stunned and fearful as the door snapped open, and Rhys shoved the man out onto the floor in front of him.

His paranoia and anger was coming out in full force as his eyes narrowed at the room of people, “this idiot thought he could throw a punch at me,” Rhys ran one hand through his hair and sucked in a deep breath as he eyed the room.

The workers seemed frozen where they were, transfixed on the scene playing out in front of their break room.

Rhys let out a laugh, and took a step forward, “so now, you all get to see what happens when you throw a punch at me.”

The man on the floor turned but instead of the expected fear, he looked angry. A sneer pulled at the man’s features, “you think you’re so fucking smart. But no one respects you anymore; you went fucking crazy, and then you compounded that crazy by bringing back the only person whose a bigger monster than you.”

The next few minutes were a blur to Rhys, later he only vaguely recalled springing forward on top of the man and bringing punch after punch down on his face. There was screaming, and a brief moment where the man begged his co-workers to help him, and then finally Rhys came back to himself splattered in the man’s blood.

His flesh and blood knuckles were bruised and bleeding, and the worker he’d just pummeled looked like splattered meat. His cybernetic fist apparently hadn't had any problem cracking the man’s skull open as easily as if it had been a rotting pumpkin.

Blinking down at the mess Rhys rose to his feet, at least he had a reason to get rid of the tie without suspicion now, although he had really liked the suit he’d chosen that morning. Kicking the man’s corpse in irritation, he glanced up at the workers and found them frozen in terror. One had actually vomited it looked like.

“Someone call janitorial,” Rhys snapped, “and get back to work.”

He finished his scan of the ship uninterrupted before retreating to the room he and Jack would be sharing. He felt sticky and tired, but at least he hadn’t found anything other than his tie.

He reached the private washroom and eyed himself in the mirror, two glowing eyes sweeping over the image in front of him. The sound of the door pulled Rhys’ attention and he snapped around, gun raised.

Jack stood in the door with a small smirk on his features, hands raised in mock surrender, “I watched your show on the security cameras cupcake.”

Rhys returned his gun to it’s holster and began to loosen the tie at his throat, flakes of dried blood falling to the floor as he moved, “he tried to punch me.”

The CEO just shrugged, “clearly it didn’t work out for the guy,” Jack chuckled and stepped closer, “I especially loved the part where he begged for help, or when his skull spilled open and that kid in the back corner vomited.”

Rhys watched in the mirror as one of Jack’s hands ghosted over his throat, “if I hadn’t been so pissed off maybe it would have lasted longer. I meant for it to last longer.”

“It was fucking hot as all hell,” Jack muttered into his ear as he stepped even closer, “you should let loose more often pumpkin.”

On some level Rhys wanted to tell Jack to fuck off, the man had just strangled him earlier after all. But lust inevitably won out over his anger. All rage having been mostly sated by bashing in the worker's head.

Rhys turned, lips clashing with Jack’s as the man pushed him backwards against the bathroom wall. A low groan filtered past Rhys’ lips only to be swallowed back Jack. Rhys felt his head clunk back against the wall and then Jack was tearing at his clothes, ripping buttons and seams alike. Normally that might have pissed him off, but the clothes were already ruined anyways.

“Shoulda seen yourself cupcake,” Jack grunted biting down on his throat, “like a fucking animal, I’m gonna keep that footage and use it as jerk off material.”

Rhys gasped as Jack’s teeth ground down on his bruised throat. Rhys pushed back making quick work of Jack’s outer layers, before he used his cybernetic hand to press careful bruises into Jack’s hips.

Jack shot him a grin and then dragged him backwards from the bathroom, and then into the bedroom with Rhys almost blindly following along. The CEO ditched the remainder of his own clothes and then bodily pinned the cyborg against the mattress with a pleased grin. One of Jack’s hands slid up to run along Rhys’ chin and upper throat the dried blood now flaking off onto the previously clean blankets.

“Shit pumpkin,” Jack leaned back with an admiring look in his eyes, “this is definitely your best look yet.”

Rhys raised a brow, “you act like you’ve never seen me naked and covered in blood.”

Snickering Jack leaned forward again and plucked at Rhys’ hair before holding up a bone fragment that had apparently gotten caught there, “not like this.”

Something about Jack’s face had the pleasant coil in Rhys’ stomach twisting tighter, and he wrapped one hand into the back of the CEO’s hair to pull him forward into another burning kiss.

Pulling himself free after a moment Jack grinned again while his hand scrambled for the side table, “this is so much better.”

The cyborg felt almost dizzy, eyes following Jack’s manic expression as coated fingers wrapped around Rhys' length and slid along it just right, grunting he managed a single word, “why?”

“Letting yourself go like that,” the CEO sounded almost in awe, “giving them what they really deserve, it’s fucking beautiful.”

Rhys felt like his breath had gotten caught in his throat, Jack’s eyes were positively glowing and he had the eerie feeling that he’d been caught in their light, like a bug in amber. He didn’t even notice the man’s other hand had been drifting lower until the finger that had been circling started to push inside.

Letting his eyes flutter, Rhys threw his head back, trying to focus on the sensation rather than the impression that he was an experiment that had worked out particularly well.

Jack was apparently in no mood for patience because the cyborg was only just on the edge of prepared when the man pulled his fingers free. Strong arms easily flipping Rhys over and prodding him up onto his knees.

“Hold onto the headboard cupcake,” Jack sounded ravenous, “Or I’m gonna drive you straight through it.”

At least he’d warned him Rhys thought idly as his hands grasped around the bars, “I don’t think-”

His words were cut off as Jack pushed himself in without warning, “you don’t think what cupcake?”

Rhys groaned, what had he been saying? He had no idea. It was almost too much, too raw, but at the same time that core primal part of him was thrilled with it.

“Start moving Jack,” he managed to grit out.

A low chuckled sounded behind him and then Jack was immediately doing just that, each thrust on the edge of comfortable, “how did it feel pumpkin? To watch his skull crumble, feel the bone chips hit your face, and then keep going?”

Rhys gasped at a particularly well aimed thrust, “it felt-” he pulled in oxygen and tried again, “it just felt like any other-”

“Don’t,” the order came with a sudden stop in movement, “don’t lie to me Rhysie.”

A half thrust to emphasize had Rhys dropping his head against the cool bars for a moment before speaking, “it felt good.”

Jack drew almost all the way out and then eased slowly, _too slowly_ , back in, “you can do better than that pumpkin.”

“It was fucking incredible, it’s always incredible, there’s nothing, nothing quite like losing it on some asshole,” Rhys finally said a desperate frustration swelling up and escaping with the words.

Jack returned to a faster pace, the strength of each thrust almost violent, large hands pressing what would undoubtedly be bruises into his hips, “fuck yeah it was, and me and you are gonna do that to all the rest of them. Unrestrained violence for every fucker who ever blinked at us wrong.”

The CEO was officially lost in a haze of violent daydreams, not that Rhys minded necessarily, Jack’s ramble was definitely pushing him closer to the edge.

“Build a fucking throne out of their corpses,” Jack grunted hand’s gripping tighter, blunt nails digging in, “watch you grind hat bitch into fucking dust.”

One of Jack’s hands let go and slipped down to wrap back around Rhys’ cock. The thrusts became more shallow and Rhys could tell Jack was trying to stave of an orgasm.

“Come on cupcake,” Jack shifted slightly and his thrusts became just right pulling a long moan out of Rhys’ mouth, “that’s right, come all undone for me,” the greedy tone tweaked at the building pleasure and Rhys whimpered against the now warm bars of the headboard.

“Jack,” Rhys breathed clenching just slightly and trying to drag Jack with him down the rabbit hole.

The CEO chuckled and wrapped his free hand around the base of the cyborgs neck pressing down and pulling as he pushed into another thrust.

Light flashed and an orgasm tore through Rhys from his scalp to his toes, his eyes rolled back and he let out what had probably been a stream of words, although if asked to recall precisely what he’d said, he would never have been able to.

He came down from his high to find Jack still chasing his own, his thrusts bordering on unbearable and definitely painful for the now over sensitive Rhys.

Thankfully Jack apparently managed to achieve his ends only moments later, body going stiff and then completely limp on top of Rhys.

After a few minutes of tired lounging Jack smacked one hand against Rhys’ ass and grinned, “come on cupcake, as much as I enjoyed the interruption, we need to shower and get back to work. Aliens to kill and galaxies to conquer."

“Jack,” one hand shot out to hold the man in place, “there's something you need to know.”

* * *

 

Jack stood on the bridge, hands on his hips, and eyes glued on the large monitor ahead of him, “so that’s the whole fleet?”

A nervous battle analyst next to him cleared her throat, “yes Sir, one thousand and thirty three Eridian ships, our scouts indicate that this should be the whole lot.”

“Should be,” Jack hummed, “what the hell does ‘should be’ mean?”

She took a hesitant step backwards, “they keep killing our scouts Sir, so our reports may potentially be less than certain.”

“Sounds like you have no idea but you’re trying to act like you do anyways,” Rhys commented with a sneer at the woman.

“N-no Sir,” her eyes darted between the two of them, she was clearly terrified, “I would never-”

Rolling his eyes Rhys snapped the fingers on his left hand, “speak up and enunciate, or find us someone who can actually deliver a report.”

Jack smiled fondly, and motioned with one hand, “you heard him.”

The woman let out a high pitched squeak, clenched her fists, and took a shaky breath, but when she spoke again, it was clearer, “all reports indicate that this is the entirety of the Eridian fleet, but the destruction of our scouts gives that about a 25% chance for error. Sirs.”

Rhys eyed her for a moment and then turned away, “good enough.”

The CEO nodded in agreement, “time to get you wired up pumpkin,” he glanced at the bridge, “you idiots keep the ship still.”

The walk to the device chamber had an edge to it, Rhys was overly twitchy, eyes anxiously narrowing in suspicion at every staff member that came near them. It was putting Jack on edge if he was being honest. Not that he blamed the cyborg. If Rothstein was compromised then who knew how many other employees were.

Of course Jack had long ago come to expect betrayal at every turn, but Rhys it seemed had only just accepted that betrayal might come from any source.

Vats of eridium lined the walls of the chamber, enough for multiple blasts with the weapon, and in the center, was the device’s core. Rhys was taking a deep shaky breath next to Jack, pupils blown wide with eager anticipation. Jack couldn’t help the grin tugging at his lips, fuck but he’d done well with this one.

He watched just as fascinated as the first time watching the wires slide under Rhys’ flesh. However, where there had been screams the first time, the man only twitched now, and Jack felt another swell of pride.

When he’d been a younger man he probably would have taken Rhys right then against the side of the weapon. The idea of screwing him with the wires under his skin appealed to Jack on several levels. He’d have to keep the idea in mind for future encounters.

Almost reverently Jack unbuttoned the cyborg’s shirt and pressed the hidden latch that would flip the panel on the man’s chest open. The tube connected to the eridium vats clicked into place and the glowing liquid began moving up the hose.

“Knock em dead cupcake,” Jack muttered patting one hand against the man’s cheek.

Rhys grinned for a moment and then wrapped his hands around the controls. The man’s body went rigid immediately, head thrown back, eyes rolled into his head, mouth slightly agape. His chest lit up with a purple light and the eridian device around him began to churn.

Just as the energy reached its zenith Jack suddenly lost his breath, his face meeting the floor with a loud smack that rang in his ears. Something was wrong. His side was burning, his head hurt.

A combination of adrenaline and muscle memory had him rolling to the side and then bring himself to his knees with a low wheeze.

He’d been shot, he realized, eyes dropping to his side where blood was welling up from a hole that was far too big. The smell of burnt flesh made his stomach roil, his lunch trying to come back up. Laser weapons he realized, it was the only thing that would cut through his personal shield like this. It was also probably the only reason he hadn’t started losing massive amounts of blood, the energy burning the wound closed even as it had torn the hole.

Jack slid his gun from it’s holster and peeked around, Rhys was slowly coming back to himself and but it wouldn’t be fast enough. Only feet away several grim looking employees were raising weapons at both Rhys and Jack.

Well Torgue had to have a point sometimes, time to blow up some shit.

Jack chucked the handful of small metal disks he’d gotten from R&D before they’d left with a grin. The employees swore at the disks dropped each one sprouting legs and then doing their best to latch onto the nearest human.

Panicked shouting and then screams filled the air as the devices exploded, removing limbs and sending a bloody chunks across the room.

He heard Rhys curse and then suddenly the man was dropping down behind cover with him, blood trailing from his arms where he’d clearly ripped himself free from the machine.

Proud of himself Jack grinned at the cyborg until he noticed how pale the man was, “wha-”

“One of them has grenades.”

“Fuck.”

An explosion washed overtop of their hiding place shrapnel spraying across the far wall. A glance over their cover revealed the explosion had torn the exit apart dropping an entire support beam in the way. More importantly to Jack was that the eridian weapon had obviously been damaged in the blast.

“Son of a taint,” he shouted pulling himself up with an angry glare, “those absolute assholes!”

“Jack.”

“When I get my hands on whoever is left I am going to peel their fucking faces off, while they're still breathing, and feed it to them piece by piece!”

“Jack!”

“And then I'm gonna hunt down their mothers and light them on fire, watch em run around screaming until they fall down, fucking record and broadcast it so the whole universe knows not to fuck with me!”

“JACK!”

“What?!” He snapped glaring at Rhys.

“You're bleeding to death.”

“Oh,” he looked down, eyes taking in the dark stains across his clothes, the laser burn must have torn open, and then his knees were giving out again.

A cybernetic limb slowed his descent to the ground, saving him from a second face plant, “that doesn’t look good.”

Jack scowled, “I’ll be fine pumpkin, just grab me an insta-health and we’ll be good to go.”

“I don’t think we have one.”

Anger rose up in his chest, fucking cyborg was probably loving this, finally free, and Jack was dying from a bullet to the stomach for the second time in his life. What an asshole. But when he looked up at Rhys he found himself pausing as he recognized genuine fear in the man’s face.

 

“I’ll find one,” Rhys said shakily while pulling his jacket off and tearing it apart with quick movements, “you keep the bleeding to a minimum.”

“Right,” Jack pressed his hand to it.

Fear choked his thoughts as he watched the cyborg stand and start searching for a way out, the first time he’d died he had been angry. Furious, and in absolute denial. This was different, his attackers were dead, and the only person left was trying to help him. There was no fury to disguise the panic he was feeling as his body started to shut down.

He could see Rhys across the room yanking at the rubble between him and the door with a frustrated wordless shout. This was not going well.

After a few minutes of unsuccessfully moving the support beam in their path Rhys seemed to give up on that approach and appeared to be trying to contact someone. Jack’s vision blurred and he pressed down on the fabric over his injury. A fresh wave of pain kept him conscious and he looked up to find Rhys returning to his side.

“No one’s answering Jack,” he looked almost panicked now, “I think it’s not just these people, I-I think it might be a full blown coup, ships sensors are indicating the crew is launching escape pods.”

Jack clenched his jaw, rage blasting through him with such force that his couldn't quite catch his breath, or maybe that was the gaping stomach wound. His eyes skimmed over the torn apart exit as he tried to figure out if there was some other way to get out of the room.

The comm system on the far wall sparked to life while Jack frantically tried to come up with a solution. The shrapnel had taken out one corner of the screen, and the connection seemed to be shaky at best, but there was no mistaking Hat Girl’s stupid smug face.

 “Well, I wasn’t sure you two would be this stupid, but I guess Vaughn was right, didn’t occur to you for even a second that your own employees might be sick of your shit,” Fiona shook her head clearly disbelieving, “sorry for the poor connection, I couldn’t be there in person, too busy.”

Jack growled low in his throat, she wasn’t even going to kill them herself, she was going to let a bunch of nobodies have that honor.

“You know,” Rhys took a step closer cruel smile tilting his lips, “even if they kill us, Sasha will still be dead, and you’ll still be all alone and angry.”

Fiona’s face twitched, but it seemed even Rhys’ taunting couldn’t reel her in, “I’m not alone Rhys,” she shook her head, “you two are so...dumb, you know that right?”

“So what the traitors get off the ship and then you blow us to shit?” Jack interrupted the posturing.

“Some well deserved revenge,” Hat Girl said with a grin, “you guys hurt a lot of people.”

“Turn it off Rhysie,” Jack snapped.

Fiona’s mouth gaped open a fraction and she leaned forward, “you don’t get to turn me off, I put-”

Jack smiled thinly, “guess you should've come personally, bye bitch.”

Rhys shut the monitor off with the flick of a button and then dropped to his knees next to Jack, “what now?”

“Now cupcake? Now we take em out, use the weapon,” Jack grinned, he was pretty sure he didn’t have a whole lot longer, the world was starting to dim and the once hideous pain had become dull and distant.

“The connection to the aperture was blown up-” Rhys started before stopping and eyeing him, “you mean blow us all up.”

“Well, we’re gonna die anyways cupcake, may as well take em all with us.”

* * *

 

Rhys stared down at Jack for a moment, fear coursed through his stomach, he wasn't ready to die. The cyborg straightened his shoulders, it didn't matter, Jack was right, he was about to die one way or another, he could at least be brave, “yeah alright.”

“You think you can hook yourself up pumpkin, I’m uh, not exactly mobile right now,” Jack looked somewhere between furious and determined.

“Yeah, yeah, I can hook myself up,” Rhys frowned while glancing back at the weapon, he could, it’d just suck.

“Good,” Jack grinned with blood stained teeth, “get to it cupcake, I wanna go from the blast and not a bullet wound from some nobody.”

Rhys nodded, he felt like his legs wouldn’t move, fuck, maybe he wasn’t quite so brave as he’d thought, “yeah,” he muttered as if that’d get him moving, “gotta get to it.”

His stomach clenched, he was going to die, Jack was going to die, they’d never finish their mission, Pandora was still a mess. A shaky but surprisingly strong hand interrupted his thoughts as Jack dragged him down and towards himself. The messy and almost desperate kiss wasn’t necessarily their best, but it was good enough to shake him out of his shock.

A hand pinched Rhys’ ass as he pulled away and Jack looked almost fond, “blow em up pumpkin.”

Rhys stood on barely stable legs and stumbled towards the weapon, flipping open the panel on his chest as he walked, the first shots from the surrounding armada were shaking the floor, he had to hurry.

The eridium tube clicked into place and Rhys grimaced as the device’s wires greeted him, sharp barbs sliding through barely closed scabs. That feeling of eternity and ultimate power returned to him, he cast one final glance back at Jack’s face, still oddly fond, and then let go.

He didn’t even direct the weapon, just let it greedily drain the eridium through him and then unleash, white hot heat spread and then…

_01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01101101 01101001 01110100 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111_

**Nothing.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art here was done by the amazing and fantastic [Visnomer](https://visnomer.tumblr.com/) go to the link to see more incredible art! Also thank you so much for helping me finally manage to get these last two chapters out.
> 
> Uh, and stay tuned kids, we got one more chapter to go.


	8. Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Song: Stole the Show (By, Sofia Karlberg)

 

_“Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you.”_

\- The Nightvale Podcast

 

* * *

**Finale**

* * *

 

_01100010 01101111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01110001 01110101 01100101 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101001 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100100_

_...connecting…_

_...connecting…_

_01110011 01111001 01110011 01110100 01100101 01101101 00100000 01100001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 01110011 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100_

Rhys opened his eyes, he was in a small room, the entire thing made of some sort of simple gray stone that looked smooth to the touch. The only furniture in the room was a small cot that was precisely the same gray as the room.

He slowly eased to a seated position and examined the room, the far wall seemed to have a door, he’d missed it at first because it had blended in with all of the gray. Perfectly smooth sheets were tossed aside and Rhys stood. He spent several minutes carefully examining himself with obvious confusion before finally moving on. Rhys hesitated for a moment at the plain grey door before pushing the door open just enough to peek through.

The room beyond was large with simple blocky furniture, a dining table, a couch, a television, and a small kitchen, all in the exact same shade of gray. There was also another door, this one a little more prominent than the last. He ran his fingers along the top of the table, eyes fluttering closed for a moment as he let out a relieved sounding sigh.

Heavy curtains on the far wall seemed to catch Rhys’ attention and he started to head towards them at the same time the front door’s latch clicked.

Dropping behind the couch Rhys frantically took in his surroundings, eyes darting left and right. Blue light spread through the room for a moment as the door opened and then closed. The sound of heavy footsteps filled the room and then an exasperated sigh broke the silence.

“I know you woke up cupcake, so ya may as well come out.”

Rhys’ eyes widened and he peeked around the couch, Jack stood in the middle of the room, hands on his hips, and one foot propped up on the coffee table.

“Jack?” Rhys stood, “where are we? How did we even survive that? How did we get here? Did we take out the fleet? Did the vault hunters catch us?”

Jack raised one finger to stop Rhys’ stream of questions, “alright take a deep breath, and let’s try one question at a time pumpkin.”

Rhys took a deep breath and nodded, “okay, let’s start with how are we even alive then?”

“Well that is the easiest question for me to answer,” Jack’s smile was thin, “sit down cupcake.”

Rhys’ eyes narrowed, “what did you do?”

“What did I do?” A snarl twisted the other man’s lips, “nuh uh, no blaming this shit on me, now sit down.”

Letting out a short irritated sigh, Rhys walked around the couch and sat, “well?”

“Right uh,” Jack dropped onto a nearby chair and frowned, “the short answer to your question is that we’re not alive, uh, well we are, but, our bodies are not.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Rhys pulled in a sharp breath.

“I mean I dunno exactly how we, or they,” Jack frowned and then shrugged, “how we died, I just know that if you woke up, then you’re definitely dead, and from what I saw of the last memory transfer, I was bleeding pretty good and the ship blew up, so I think I’m dead too, again.”

Rhys’ eyes bulged, shock written on his face as plain as day, “I’m an AI.”

“Bingo!” Jack proclaimed, “I started putting you together right after we got off Promethea, and I mean with the command control it was pretty easy to transfer memories.”

Rhys’ eyes darted between Jack and his own hands a couple times and then he launched across the room. Weight pinning down the other man as his hands wrapped around Jack's throat, “you self-centered egotistical asshole, couldn’t even bother talking _to me,_ about making a copy of me, just fucking went and did it!”

“Initiate command control, password cerberus1897,” Jack wheezed.

Rhys hesitated, obviously expecting for his limbs to go rigid and out of his control. But when nothing happened a grin stretched across his face, “someone didn’t copy all my programming over.”

Jack’s eyes widened, “no he did, he copied it over, I remember.”

A laugh burst from Rhys, “that, that is even better.”

A shove pushed Rhys backwards and Jack was scrambling away from him with a glare, “what the hell are you laughing at?”

Rhys rolled his eyes, “you didn’t even trust yourself! After all, on the off chance that I died, and you didn’t - you wouldn’t want any competition for control of me, not even from yourself.”

Jack seemed to freeze in place, one could almost see the AI’s processes grinding to a halt as he put it all together.

Grinning viciously Rhys pulled himself back to his feet, “I didn’t even have to betray you Jack, you betrayed yourself.”

Jack scowled and a distorted shout cut the air before Rhys was being slammed backwards. His head cracked against the simulated wall, with a dull thunk. Though it was clear from his expression that Rhys was at least simulating pain, there was no visible damage.

“You shut up,” Jack shouted cracking Rhys’ head against the wall a second time.

Rhys sighed and wrapped his simulated cybernetic limb around the front of the other man’s shirt and seemed pleased with the strength he found there, “stop being dramatic Jack, I don’t think we can even really hurt each other.”

“I can sure as fuck try,” he snarled fist cracking across Rhys’ cheek.

“Fine,” Rhys shoved sending Jack sprawling backwards and into the coffee table.

Pulling himself up to a standing position Rhys watched as Jack similarly stood up, “I’m going to kick your ass cupcake, and then you’re going to calm your shit and do as your told.”

Rhys dropped into a fighting stance and smiled, “I’m going to enjoy this.”

The fight was messy, almost clumsy to watch, but the end result was Rhys pinning Jack to the wall with one arm locked behind his back.

“Well that was just sad,” Rhys quipped into his ear, “I mean, I thought you were supposed to be good at this Jack.”

Jack's head slammed backwards and cracked into Rhys’ nose, sending him stumbling backwards in surprise, “shut up.”

Rhys shook off the blow quickly, “make me.”

Jack growled and took a running leap forward. A wide sweeping roundhouse punch distracted from a kidney shot that left Rhys wheezing for a moment. Jack let out a prideful laugh only to have himself taken off his feet by Rhys putting his entire weight into launching himself at Jack’s gut.

Rhys quickly dropped on top of the other man for the second time that day, and then dragged Jack up by his hair before pushing into a kiss that was almost more of a bite.

When he pulled back Jack clocked him in the side of the head and rolled over on top of him, “oh is that how you want me to make you,” he spoke with a lewd smile.

Rhys snorted and shoved, “it’s not going to change a thing Jackie, I can do whatever the fuck I want,” he said crisply and slowly, clearly relishing the ability to do so, “maybe I just think fucking you is a better use of my time then beating your stupid face in.”

“My face is perfect,” Jack snarled nose bumping into Rhys’ own, “and I do the fucking.”

Rhys rolled his eyes and bucked his hips, “get on with it then, I’m getting bored.”

Jack’s snarl pulled back at his lips even further and then he was rapidly divesting Rhys of his pants with one hand while wrapping the other around the man’s throat.

An unnecessary breath was dragged through Rhys’ teeth before Jack was clenching his fingers tighter. Even while being strangled Rhys’ mouth drew back in a wild grin and his deft fingers slid into Jack’s front pocket, fishing around for something. 

With a long roll of his eyes Jack snapped the fingers on his free hand and seemed to summon a package of lubricant from thin air, “no worries cupcake, no way in hell was I forgetting to add that command in.”

Rhys focused an irritated glare on the other man, however the continued strangling seemed to prevent whatever words he might have wanted to say.

Jack was clearly impatient, ignoring Rhys and quickly giving his own dick a clumsy coating before hoisting Rhys’ hips up, and lining himself up with his target. The glare Rhys had been keeping was immediately disturbed by Jack suddenly bottoming out. Rhys' mouth dropping open in a silent shout.

The only sounds echoing through the room were Jack’s low grunts and the sound of skin against skin. Rhys’ eyes were rolled back into his head, mouth moving as if he was trying to gasp.

“Little shit,” Jack grunted clearly pursuing his own finish without any consideration for the man he was using and strangling.

A smile ghosted across Rhys’ features for a moment, eyes suddenly focused on the mismatched glare that was currently fixed on him. Rhys’ cybernetic arm shot up without warning, and tore Jack’s hand free of his throat. “My turn.”

Jack had exactly enough time to look confused before Rhys was knocking him backwards. Jack’s head cracked against the wall and Rhys was quickly moving forward to straddle him.

Blinking Jack managed a slightly confused looking glare, “the hell do you think you’re-”

His words cut off as Rhys wrapped one hand around Jack’s dick and lining it up with himself.

Jack’s head thudded back against the wall again with an amused expression as he jolted his hips up slightly. Rhys responded with a pleased grin and then wrapped his metal hand firmly around Jack’s throat.

“After all, turnabout's fair play,” Rhys quipped while Jack’s face seemed to flash between pleasure and fury moment by moment.

It wasn’t long before Rhys was groaning to himself, riding the man with the single minded purpose of a man with a mission. Jack flailed slightly as Rhys came, drops splattering across Jack’s chest.

Rhys smirked, “oh did you want to get off too?”

Jack’s flail become slightly more animated, the fury taking full control of the situation. Rhys let out a chuckle but clenched down around Jack’s length at the same time he let go of the man’s throat. Jack let out a gasp and shuddered under Rhys.

Pulling away Rhys slid to the ground next to Jack with a sigh. The pair sat like that for a few minutes before Rhys started looking for his pants.

“So,” he glanced down at Jack as he pulled the article of clothing on, “I take it this isn’t reality.”

Jack snorted, “unless you’re suddenly a lot better at holding your breath, no pumpkin, we’re in a secure database with a simulated environment I set up. It’s connected to the main Atlas servers.”

Rhys clicked his belt into place and tilted his head, “so what, we go out in the server and force someone to build us bodies?”

Jack nodded, “well, in a month.”

“What?”

“I...uh, he…” Jack frowned before his face straightened and he sat up, “ _I_ decided to put a timer on it, in case my body is still alive, two of me would be too much Handsome for the Universe to handle.”

Rhys raised a brow but apparently chose not to comment, “so until then we’re what, just stuck?”

Jack stood pulling up his own pants and grinning, “well I can think of a few things to try out for the next month.”

As the pair of AI’s reorganized their clothing and talked, a man in a perfectly tailored suit stood staring down at the screen connected to their virtual world.

His face was utterly impassive, eyes so empty one might think he was a corpse except that he was breathing.

“Mr. Rothstein Sir? Is that, copies of...of them?”

Rothstein turned to eye the Atlas employee who’d snuck up behind him, “so it would appear.”

The man’s lips turned thin, “always a back up plan,” he shook his head, “I’ll go get the explosives.”

A disappointed sigh halted the employee in their movements, “No I don’t think so.”

“Sir, good people died stopping them,” the man was clearly upset.

A calculating look flickered across Rothstein’s face, “go get your dynamite.”

“You’re making the right choice Sir,” the employee smiled trust obviously renewing.

Rothstein smiled thinly, “I certainly hope so.”

As the man turned away a gunshot rang out, and the employee dropped to the ground.

Holstering his gun Rothstein turned back to the screen, and remarkably his face cracked into a smile, “well Sir, I hope you enjoy your new home.”

A flick of a switch disconnected the computer from the main Atlas servers. With one final glance, Rothstein quickly turned and walked up the passageway. His face returning to the same blank look he always wore.

Years went by, dust collecting in the hallway, and across the screen. The two captive AI’s had not even been granted a camera to the outside world to see what had gone wrong.

_The End_

* * *

 

 _“No book can ever be finished. While working on it we learn just enough to find it immature the moment we turn away from it”  
_ \- Karl R. Popper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo that's it, please do shoot me a comment if you've got the time.
> 
> Aaaand sorry this took me so long!


End file.
